East Singhbhum education department office in Bistupur, Jamshedpur, on Wednesday. (Animesh Sengupta)

Jamshedpur, July 20: The Queen’s language will soon come in the grip of students of Dumaria block, who cannot afford to study in private English mediums schools.

The East Singhbhum district is poised to get its first English-medium model school that will start functioning in Dumaria from August 15 under a joint project of the central and state governments.

Launched in October, 2010, the project aims to impart quality education in English in educationally backward areas of the state with special thrust on rural pockets. Although the model schools will come up in all nine blocks of East Singhbhum, Dumaria is the first beneficiary as it is considered to be the most backward block of the district.

Initially, classes will be held at Dumaria Middle School at Chamraguttu village. The school will follow CBSE curriculum. To begin with, each class will have 60 seats.

“The model English medium schools will immensely benefit those who cannot afford to study at private schools. The school will offer free education in English to woo meritorious students of rural areas,” said Ashok Kumar Sharma, district education officer (DEO), East Singhbhum.

However, unlike private English medium schools in the city, the entry level at this school is Class VI on the lines of the Centre-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya. An admission test has already been conducted with 157 students from nearby areas of the block appearing for the exam.

The results are likely to be declared at the end of this month. The district education department also conducted an interview of 34 trained teachers of English, mathematics and science, who will take classes at the school, on July 12. The list of the selected teachers has been sent to the HRD department.

According to sources, the government will require five acres of land in each block to set up the English medium model schools. A three-member committee, comprising the DEO, district superintendent of education and a member nominated by the deputy commissioner, was deputed for the task. The committee has already surveyed the land.

“Thankfully, we have been able to identify suitable land in all the blocks and have sent the list to the HRD department. Dumaria will be the first one to get the school followed by the other blocks,” Sharma said.

Parents are relieved. Some feel that this initiative will end the monopoly of private English medium schools that charge exorbitant fees. But the state must come up with more such schools, they added.

“Finally, the government is doing something on the education front. However, there should be more such schools so that poor children get the opportunity to study in English,” said Umesh Khan, president of Jamshedpur Abhibhavak Sangh.