 |
| Members of the House Committee of Assembly for Linguistic Minority at a meeting in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy |
Berhampur, Aug. 7: The state government will recruit 100 Telugu teachers in the bilingual schools of Ganjam and Gajapati districts.
Usha Devi, women and child development minister and also chairperson of the House Committee of Assembly for Linguistic Minority, said: “Shortage of Telugu teachers in bilingual schools will shortly be sorted out. The government has decided to recruit around 100 Telugu teachers.”
Nearly 40 per cent of the total population of 3.55 lakh people in Berhampur speak Telugu.
P. Satyanarayana and S. Ram Kumar, both former presidents of the Berhampur-based Andhra Bhashabhivardhani Samajam, feel that the move will benefit hundreds of Telugu speaking parents, who are unable to teach their children in Telugu due to shortage of teachers, textbooks and tuition facility.
Recruitment of Telugu teachers had been stopped here since the past 15 years. Telugu teaching had been closed in three high schools, including Giri Road Girls’ High School and K.C. Town High School, apart from many primary schools, for the past five years due to shortage of the Telugu teachers.
“Our children were forced to study in Odia or English medium schools. At present, no Telugu textbooks are available here. One private publisher here is supplying Telugu textbooks, which are, however, very few in numbers, and the rate is comparatively high. Besides, a poor student can’t afford it as it is sold in sets,” said Satyanarayana.
“The Class X question papers of the Telugu speaking students were being published in English. But now, the state government’s new initiative will definitely help. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had promised in the sixth all-India Telugu conference here in February 2011 that the Telugu teachers would be recruited to streamline Telugu education, and he has fulfilled his promise,” said Ram Kumar.
In Ganjam, there are 15 teachers for nine primary and six upper primary schools against the requirement of another 38.
