The success story of bihar

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Wanted: English teachers in Bihar

Patna, February 21, 2007Saki and Shakespeare are on their way back to an unlikely place — Bihar’s classrooms.With English all set to make a comeback in state government schools, many more will need to head back to those classrooms — 70,000 qualified English teachers, to begin with.Quite a task at hand, especially in a state that prided itself for years in spurning everything but the strictly homegrown such as the lip-smacking litti or Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s rustic jokes.Though there is still no move to make English a compulsory subject, the government has made the language an important component in the new syllabi prepared on the basis of National Curriculum Framework and the Central Board of Secondary Education.The move follows Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda’s written direction to the Bihar government to make English compulsory in schools from Standard I to Standard X, as 'it is needed for equity'. However, the government has stopped one step short because of practical difficulties."Former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur’s formula had made English redundant in Bihar’s schools. We are trying to revive it. But making it compulsory is a wider policy issue which would be decided only after consultation."The biggest problem is finding 70,000 qualified English teachers,” said HRD Commissioner-cum-Secretary MM Jha. He said the government had decided to introduce English from VI onwards in the proposed syllabi.An expert committee comprising NCERT Director Krishna Kumar would review the draft on Thursday before circulating it among teachers. The government wants to introduce it from the next session starting April to link Bihar’s children to the emerging global environment.

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