Telangana Govt School Textbooks Go Bilingual

The Telangana School Education department is planning to provide bilingual textbooks for non language subjects, where textbooks will be available  in both Telugu and English. For example, each page of a Telugu medium lesson will have an English translation on the following page. Similarly, for Hindi and Urdu medium students, the same topic will be provided in both Hindi and English, as well as Urdu and English. The decision to adopt bilingual textbooks follows the State government's decision to implement English as a medium of instruction in government schools. According to officials, these bilingual textbooks will help non-English medium students transfer to English medium, as well as help them to better understand and learn topics.

The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), a branch of the Department of School Education, has been working on multilingual material. "At the moment, non-language topic textbooks for schools up to VII are being translated into bilingual. The content preparation is nearly finished. "We are awaiting government orders before releasing content for printing," an official stated. With information available in both Telugu and English, the number of pages increases, as does the weight of the textbook. To save school bags from becoming too heavy, the department is considering supplying two textbooks for non-language courses, one for Summative Assessment-I and one for Summative Assessment-II.

The School Education Department expects to produce 1.70 crore free component textbooks for distribution to pupils in government-run schools during the upcoming academic year. If the government decides to provide two bilingual textbooks for non-language subjects, this figure will rise. A total of 1.46 crore free component textbooks were printed and delivered to pupils last year. "At the moment, the paper tender procedure is underway." When we get content from the SCERT, we will begin producing free component textbooks. The textbooks will be sent to students in May, said the official.