Residential schools find great demand

There is good demand for seats in social welfare residential schools and colleges run under TSWREI Society rather than private residential schools.

Parents admitted their children in social welfare residential schools far away from their villages as they see a bright future for their children.

D. Venkatalaxmi, District coordinating officer, TSWREI society said a crease has created for the admission in the residential schools was due to its unique programmes and good food and shelter and offering quality education.

She said as many as 7,000 students attended the test for class V this year and 8,000  for admission to the vacant seats in classes  VI to VIII.

The TSWREI is also holding summer camps for them and special programmes to improve English communication skills and spoken English. The mountaineering and rock climbing events for the students of the TSWREI brought the name and fame  for these institutions and its students Purna and Anand who climbed Mt Everest created a craze of sorts for admissions.

The existing demand for English medium education among the middle class and also poor has created demand for admission in these  schools where English is medium of instruction and majority of high schools upgraded to colleges.

Chindam Ramesh of Goleti said his son Vardhan Kumar finally got admission in class V in Social Welfare Residential School and said there was heavy competition for the seats in these institutions.

According to official sources, there are total 14 social welfare residential schools including five for boys and nine for girls in the district. As many as 8,550 students are studying in the already existing schools and 1,300 students got fresh admissions in new schools.

Kodipe Rajaiah of Tharividi in Kautala mandal who admitted their two daughters at Social Welfare Residential School at Asifabad said the institutions were offering quality education and focusing on the all-round development of the students.

Parents are of the opinion that things will improve at Social Welfare Residential Schools as the state government is going to fill nearly 5,000 teacher posts in these institutions soon.

Fight for students hots up

A fight is going on for the first time between private and government schools to attract the students into their fold.

Managements of private schools feeling the heat of the introducing English medium in government schools are coming out with many offerings to attract the students.The managements making all out efforts thwart the efforts being made by the villagers and teachers to start English medium.

A private school management reportedly offered a concession of Rs 1,000 in the school fee to the students who admit their children on Akshaya Tritiya in Bhainsa town recently.

Private school managements also facing some resistance from the villagers those making efforts to introduce English medium in a government school in their village. 

Some of the gram panchayats are not allowing the managements to establish new private schools in their villages. The managements of private schools are exploring new ways to attract the students and retain the existing ones.

While the state government is planning to increase 10-20 percent improvement in the enrollment of the students in government schools for 2016-17 while trying for migration of private school students to government schools.  

Government teachers are distributing pamphlets highlighting the qualification of the teachers, facilities and results they have achieved and  best performance of their students in science exhibition and achievements of students in sports events held at the district, state, and national level.

Demand for English as medium

With the schools about to reopen, demand for English medium in government schools is gaining ground in the villages in the Adilabad district.

Nearly 150 School management committees have submitted proposals to mandal education officers appealing to give them permission to run English medium in their school following the demand in the district.

The education department will give permission to run English medium in government schools only when all the teachers must express their willingness to teach English medium. Also, villagers must pass a unanimous resolution seeking introducing English medium and School Management Committee (SMC) and that too without seeking any financial assistance from the government.

In some places, gram panchayats are coming forward to extend financial assistance to run the English medium as people feel that sending their children to private schools has become one of the major issues after the crisis in Agriculture.           

Parents are coming out openly demanding the officials to introduce e English medium in the schools to avoid payment of the huge fee for their children in private schools. The parents strongly feel that the English medium in government schools will certainly reduce the financial burden on them.

Villagers are unanimously passing resolutions in grama sabha and also in school management committees demanding the state government to introduce English medium in their respective schools.

Villagers taking out rallies and submitting memorandums to the officials concerned appealing them to introduce English medium in the government schools in their villages.

Teachers who are facing the embarrassing situation with the proposed rationalization of schools and merger of government schools are finally convinced that English medium in government schools is the only tool which can strengthen the government schools and subsequently protect their jobs in the long run.

Most of the parents do want to mess-up with the ongoing arguments in favor of  mother tongue and also English and they are simply demanding for the English medium for their children in governments schools.

Some of the parents promising the teachers and officials concerned to admit their children studying in private schools in government schools if English introduced in government schools in their areas.

A.Venkat, the district general secretary of TSUTF, said there is a good response from the parents and were demanding for English medium and observed that there was a perceptional change among the teachers this time as they were started feeling insecure as far as their jobs are concerned.

He observed that there would be no teacher posts without schools and there would be posts only when there are schools but there would no schools without students adding that even parents asking them why teachers don’t join their children in government schools during Badibata program.

But, the fact remains that most of the teachers joined their children in English medium schools in towns and cities and there is hope that some of the government teachers may join their children in government schools in towns if there would be English medium. 

It is the fact that most of the teachers stay in town and cities and they do up and down to their schools in rural areas.

English medium put off

The state government has postponed its decision to introduce English as a medium of education in government schools for the 2017-18 academic year, according to Deputy Chief Minister and education minister Kadiam Srihari.

The education department has not been able to take any decision as some of the educationists are demanding Telugu medium in primary schools and are opposing English as medium of education, while others want English medium from LKG itself, Srihari said

However, school management committees can introduce English medium if they are willing to, he said, adding that the government will not do so.

We have put on hold the idea of introducing English medium in government schools from 2016-17  as there was no consensus on the issue, said Mr . Srihari. He said some educational experts feel that teaching the students in their mother tongue is important for their all – round growth.

The state government has taken a decision to divide the education into three categories from pre-primary education to 4^th class, 5^th class to Intermediate and Intermediate to higher education.

It is learned that state government is planning to organize a meeting with educational experts soon to take a decision on the issue of English medium. Meanwhile, the state government is making efforts to increase at least 10 percent student’s enrollment in government schools for 2016-17.

The state government is focusing on stabilization of the existing government schools, colleges to provide quality education to the students by providing good facilities in government educational institutions.

It is said that every year, 1 lakh –1.5 lakh students are migrating to private schools from the government schools in the state and efforts are being made to bring at least 50,000 students studying in private schools in government schools this year.

The state government is planning to introduce pre-primary sections in Anganwdis interlinking them to the government schools to improve the enrolment of the students in government schools with the taking admissions of students completed three years. 

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