English section on govt schools from next year

Despite the voices of dissent in the CPM, the state’s school education department will implement Bhattacharjee’s agenda of a separate English section in medium-level government schools across the state in the coming academic session.

Former education minister Kanti Biswas, who is also a member of the CPM’s education committee, said the earlier system was correct and there is no point in starting a separate English section where the language will be a medium of instruction. He added that the mode of teaching should be changed instead.

“The mode of teaching English should have been amended and teachers oriented on how to teach the subject better,” Biswas said.

“I too was pressurised when I was the school education minister but I put my foot down,” he added.

Following the state’s decision to have a separate English medium section in government schools, the school education department asked schools what infrastructure was required. About 20 government schools of the state will have a separate section at the primary and medium level.

At a workshop organised by the primary education department recently, it was understood that students in primary schools could not communicate in English properly.

The department, along with the British Council, has come up with a guidebook, Teachers’ Companion, to improve teachers’ communication with the students.

The book explains how poems, drama, songs and stories can be taught.

About 60 teachers from various government schools took part in the workshop. The method of teaching decided upon will be implemented in over 50,000 primary schools in the state.

West Bengal Government Teachers’ Association general secretary Dipak Das said: “Thanks to globalisation, English cannot be ignored at this crucial juncture when more and more private English-medium schools are popping up in the state.”