Starting this year, students in class 10 across boards must mandatory opt for Telugu as a language and take a test for the same, a government order mandates.

It may be recalled that the state government had passed an order in 2018 asking schools, irrespective of the boards they are affiliated to, to start teaching Telugu.

Two kinds of textbooks have been designed for this purpose. For the native speakers, a standard Telugu textbook has been prepared while for those who have migrated to Telangana from elsewhere can opt for a simplified textbook.

Under the Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools Act, 2018, schools were instructed to start teaching students in a phased manner. Schools were asked to include Telugu as a language for class 1-9 students and the same has been extended to class 10 this academic year.

Non-state-board schools have expressed that they are facing a set of challenges. Some private schools have said that there is no clarity on how the process would be handled centrally and that the CBSE code for mandatory Telugu has not been generated. They have also sought clarity from the state government regarding the implementation of the same during boards.

Iffat Ibrahim, principal, CHIREC said that for students who are already suffering from learning loss, inclusion of a new language during their boards will be burdening.

“Although there was a government order in 2018 in this regard, had things been fine in the subsequent years, implementation might have been possible. But during the pandemic, two years were lost. It did not get the time it deserved. If the state says, Telugu must be studied only as a second language, it will be difficult. What happens to children coming from other states? For parents with transferable jobs, it will be a challenge. If a child is already studying Hindi or French as a second language, the shift might be harder. Even in cases where a school has made the shift to teaching Telugu mandatory, because of online schooling, they could not learn it well.

“Education is a concurrent subject. We are bound to follow the curriculum a board asks us to follow. States should communicate with boards first before coming to us for implementation. Giving a diktat will not help,” she said.  

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