The Mahatma Gandhi English Medium Schools started by the Congress government in Rajasthan with much fanfare three years ago are grappling with the issue of poor language proficiency among their teachers. From a modest beginning of one school each in the 33 districts, as many as 749 schools have been opened across the State since 2019.
The schools have become very popular among the public at large and the number of applications received for admissions at the beginning of academic session is many times more than the seats available. Though the State government has promised to provide quality education in the English medium in these schools, most of their teachers are still unable to converse and teach in English.
The 2022-23 State Budget has announced that 2,000 Mahatma Gandhi English Medium Schools would be set up in the villages and towns of all districts. The Education Department recently concluded interviews for teachers from the pool of its regular academic staff who are willing to shift to these schools.
The schools, which had only Classes 1 to 8 in 2019, have been adding one class every year to accommodate the promoted students. However, a separate cadre of English medium teachers is yet to be created and the government schools gradually being converted from the Hindi medium into the English medium are facing a crunch of teachers.
“These elite schools are receiving a heavy rush of applicants. They will run with full capacity and will require an adequate number of teachers, failing which their purpose will be defeated,” social entrepreneur Wasim Qureshi, who got his son admitted last year, said. A large number of parents also shifted their children from private schools to the Mahatma Gandhi Schools during the pandemic to avail of free education.
The Education Department has taken an initiative to improve fluency in English among teachers through an internship programme in Sriganganagar district. Chief District Education Officer Hansraj Yadav told The Hindu that the teachers of all the 500 secondary and senior secondary schools in the district were being trained in spoken English by the specially invited tutors.
“Over 1,100 teachers have so far been trained with an emphasis that they would motivate and guide their students in learning and conversing in English. An English booklet on general awareness is also being prepared for the students to generate curiosity [among them] about their surroundings,” Mr. Yadav said.
The Education Department proposes to start similar internship programmes in other districts. Sriganganagar Collector Rukmini Riar, who was instrumental in starting the course in her district, said the trained teachers would be able to inculcate interest in the English language among students and help them converse without hesitation.
Sarwat Bano, Principal, Mahatma Gandhi School, Adarsh Nagar, Jaipur, said the internship would help teachers overcome language barriers in view of their Hindi medium background. Ms. Bano said the government's English medium schools were an attraction for the masses because of low cost and the assurance of upward social mobility.
The State government has also decided to appoint private teachers as guest faculty in the English medium schools to overcome the shortage of teachers. An official order issued by Gaurav Agarwal, Director, Secondary Education, last week stated that these appointments would be made on the posts which could not be filled up with regular interviews. The minimum eligibility conditions have been fixed for private and retired government teachers.
