Only 10% of CBSE English seats taken

Hyderabad, June 18: Less than 10 per cent of English medium CBSE seats in government schools have been taken, even as opposition parties and teachers unions are fiercely opposing its introduction. The government is offering CBSE syllabus for English medium students from Class VI. Officials blamed the poor response on the lack of textbooks. They said that nearly 15 lakh textbooks were needed for CBSE students in 6,500 schools and these have not been printed.
Some teachers are playing radio news bulletins in the classrooms to help students learn English. Officials have asked teachers to take classes on spoken English for now. But teachers who taught in Telugu medium all these years have ignored the directives. They contend that the 10-day training given to them was not adequate. The process of introducing English medium in government schools was started in April, but the government was undecided on the syllabus — SSC or CBSE — till the last minute. It opted for CBSE only on June 10, two days before the schools reopened.
Officials are finding it difficult to provide study material as there are no prescribed textbooks for CBSE. Worse, the officials are still seeking permission from CBSE and NCERT Boards to draft textbooks. They are now selecting content from NCERT textbooks. Next, they will compile the material in five subjects and then place orders for printing. That will take another two months.
Added to this, more than 3,000 out of 6,500 high schools have no additional classrooms to accommodate English medium students. “We have instructed them to clean up storerooms and also use varandahs,” said Mr C.B.S. Venkatramana, principal secretary, school education. “These are all initial hiccups which we will overcome soon.”