AMARAVATI: In what would be seen as a vindication of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's novel initiative, and a slap in the face for some detractors, 96.17 percent of parents in the state of Andhra Pradesh favoured English as the medium of education in the government schools of the state. As it turned out, only 3.05 percent of parents showed their inclination for Telugu as the medium of instruction. Parents of the students all across the state had given their consent in printed format where they were asked to choose from three options.

The overwhelming response from them clearly reflected their aspirations that their children deserve to be educated in the English medium for a better future and employment opportunities. Interestingly, the parents also favoured the English medium of instruction right from 1st standard, thus blowing a big hole in the scepticism that it might become difficult for students from weaker sections to cope with the transition at an early age.

The mood of the state on the issue, politicised by a handful of opponents led by the Telugu Desam Party and a section of the media, became evident from the survey conducted by the YSRCP government in the state as per the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The YS Jagan-led state government sought the opinion of the parents in writing, giving them three options to choose from. English as the medium of instruction while making Telugu as a mandatory subject was one of them while Telugu as a medium of education was the second option. Other languages as the medium of instruction was the third option given to the parents of the students.

As per the data updated until April 29th, out of a total of 17,87,035 students between classes 1st and 5th, parents of 17,85,669 students gave their written consent with signatures favouring English as the medium of education. Only 3.05 percent of parents gave their preference to Telugu while 0.78 per cent favour other languages as the medium of education.

The consent-seeking exercise was necessitated after the High Court said that the choice of selecting the medium should be left to the students and their parents. In accordance with the high court's directions, the state government had decided to seek an opinion on the same from the parents.

The village and ward volunteers carried out this mammoth exercise collecting the opinion of the parents. They distributed forms listing out the three options and the parents were asked to tick the boxes indicating their choice and sign on the forms before returning them.

The revelations coming from the survey are expected to be a big shot in the arm for the state government as the parents' aspirations in this regard are likely to override all the pessimistic viewpoints on the issue and remove the hurdles. The state government is expected to furnish the data of the parents' consent to the high court in due course of time.

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