Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekhar Rao, has made Telugu a mandatory language subject until class 10th. All the private and government schools in TS follow the mandate with effect from 2018-19 academic year. To ensure that the decision is followed diligently, the minister plans to pass an ACT in the current Legislature session.
The decision was taken after a proper meeting with a team of official, at Pragati Bhavan. The team went to Tamil Nadu to observe the impact and implementation of Tamil as mandatory subject in the education system. After a thorough analysis of the findings submitted by the team, the decision was taken. The meeting concluded with discussing the guidelines for proper teaching of Telugu as a subject in schools.
“After studying the mother tongue policy that is in implementation in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, we have decided to implement Telugu as a compulsory subject till tenth standard only for the present,” CM told media.
Indian is a nation where numerous languages are spoken. As per Census of India 2001, there are 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. More than 191 languages have been classified as vulnerable or endangered. The 2012 report of national geographic shows that one language dies in every 14 days, across the world. The initiative by Telangana Government to save Telugu is applaudable.
The main reason behind turning Telugu as a mandatory subject is the safeguard of language and culture. K. Chandrashekhar Rao told media houses that English is a mandatory language because it is required for better future but this does not mean that Telugu should be ignored. He further clarified that the initial plan was to make it compulsory until class 12th but the intermediate syllabus in all the classes is not the same. Hence, for now, it will be applicable only until class 10.
The responsibility to prepare the class wise syllabus for Telugu has been bestowed to Telugu Sahitya Academy and Telugu University. Both the Universities have to prepare a details syllabus for class 1st to 10th. The CM aims to teach students through the mother tongue, hence, he proposed that the content of the subject should include patriotism and ethical values. He also ensured that the those who will study Telugu shall be backed by the government.
In each school, one language Pandit shall be appointed. Recently, the notification for language Pandit CET. The candidates planning to be language Pandit in Urdu, Telugu, and Hindi will have to appear for TS LPCET 2018. The registration for it can be done from March 28 to April 19, 2018.