By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : The move of Andhra Pradesh government to introduce the syllabus of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in all government schools from 6th standard from this academic year and replace Urdu and Telugu language with English as medium of instruction seems to be back firing.
Even as the state government had adopted an adamant attitude refusing to withdraw government order No. 76, all the teachers unions and students unions have come out to strongly oppose the move saying it will affect their education.
While the government has already issued orders to introduce CBSE syllabus in 6500 schools, the disastrous impact of the move on Telugu and Urdu medium schools has been overlooked.
According to the Government Schools Protection Committee, comprising of several teachers unions, the move will result in closure of at least 200 government schools in Hyderabad city alone.
The Hyderabad district collector Navin Mittal and district education officer have already issued orders that 156 government Urdu primary schools and 42 Urdu high schools should be merged with the nearest Telugu medium schools and no fresh admission should be given in the Urdu medium classes.
“We are essentially fighting on two different issues. One is the introduction of CBSE with out proper training to the teachers. How the Urdu and Telugu medium teachers will be able to teach students in English language. The step has been taken without thinking about the consequences”, said Asaduddin Owaisi, member of Parliament from Hyderabad.
“The second issue is of merger of Urdu medium schools with out any rhyme or reason. This is a conspiracy to finish Urdu medium schools in Hyderabad and we will never accept it”, he said after unsuccessful talks with Hyderabad district collector.
He said the fight will continue till the Urdu medium schools are restored immediately.
Meanwhile several other organizations have also come out strongly against the move. The directors of the state Urdu Academy met the minister for minority welfare Mohammed Ali Shabbir and demanded that the Urdu medium schools should be protected.
They said that government Urdu medium schools were serving the needs of 10,000 students nearer their homes. “If these schools are closed, many of the students will be forced to discontinue their education as being poor they can not afford to travel to far off places”, said Raheemuddin Ansari, the Chairman of Urdu academy.
Teachers Unions say that more than 3500 government schools will be closed all over the state because of the government move and render thousands of teachers with out work.
But the state school education minister D Rajanarasimha defended the introduction of CBSE system saying it will enable the students from the state to compete with the students of other states in national level competitive exams.