Starting English medium in govt schools not a walk in the park

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 18

The initiative of the Punjab School Education Board to start English as a medium of learning in government schools seems to be a daunting task so far.

Repeated letters from the Education Board official have been putting undue pressure on the school heads to convince students for the initiative. However, as per the education officials, most of the students are not willing to enrol themselves in English medium fearing language barrier.

When the initiative was envisaged by the government, the then education minister Aruna Chaudhary and school education secretary Krishan Kumar had announced to introduce English as a medium of instruction in 2,750-odd schools across the state from April 1 in the upcoming session. Of 2,750 schools, English medium would be introduced in about 800 primary and 1,953 middle, secondary and senior secondary schools.

As per the initial letter written to all District Education Officers and Block Education Officers by the Education Department (copy with The Tribune), the former were directed to select three schools of senior secondary, high and middle from each education block. Under this, English medium would be introduced from Class VI to X in senior secondary and high school. In middle schools, English medium would be introduced from Class VI to VIII and there was a target to select at least 40 students in every class.

Zero enrolment at some schools

Some classes of middle schools even showed zero interest in taking up English medium. An official said: “Some middle schools in the district had sent nil report about the number of students interested in English medium. Reason: Students who had been studying in Punjabi medium fear that they may fail if they start studying in English medium now. Not only students, but some teachers, too, are not showing interest, as they fear that their school results may be affected if enrolled students do not perform well in exams.”

“We have been told by the higher officials in the education board to select as many students for English medium, but we have also been told not to force English medium on any student. Rather, we have been asked to enrol those students only, who are willing to pursue English medium. But so far, minimal numbers of students are willing to enrol themselves in English medium and final list of the district is yet to be prepared,” said Ashish Sharma Deputy DEO (Senior Secondary).

Schools not even meeting the desired strength 

When the school heads were told to send a list of 40 students, they started convincing children to give their names. However, most of the students of senior secondary and high schools refused to take up English medium citing their Punjabi medium roots. When the Secretary Education came to know about the lack of interest among students, he shot another letter to all DEOs and told them to at least make a quorum of minimum 25 students in each class from Class VI and VIII. Interestingly, when the minimum quorum of 25 students per class was also not met, the PSEB officials again instructed the school heads to at least send the list of students, who are willing to enrol in English-medium classes.