DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand administration has drawn an ambitious plan to shift the medium of instruction from Hindi to English in over 18,000 government schools in the hill state. Education minister Arvind Pandey told OI that the project would be carried out in a phased manner and English language would be introduced as the medium of instruction in Class 1 from the 2018 academic session. Eventually, students in other classes would also be taught in English language, the minister said.

More than 10 lakh students across Uttarakhand have Hindi as their medium of instruction till Class 12th. Pandey said, “We intend to introduce English as the medium of instruction in Class 1 from next year. Gradually, we will change the medium of instruction to English in all classes in government schools.”

The minister added that it would take a few years to complete the mammoth exercise. “New books in English language will have to be arranged for students. We may have to appoint new teachers or train the ones already employed for smooth transition,” he said.

This comes even as the government has taken several small but consistent steps to ensure students in government schools embrace the English language. Pandey said that state-owned schools have recently been sent a list of 75 common English sentences which they have to incorporate in their daily class routine. “Once children start learning small new sentences and words, it will be easier for them to pick up complex words later when the medium of instruction changes,” he added.

The list of sentences has been prepared by the State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) and includes greetings and small talk. Some of the sentences in the list are: “My apologies”, “Have a good weekend”, “I am obliged” and “What a nice day”.

Schools are enthusiastic about the initiative and are adopting unique ways to ensure learning is easier for schoolchildren. In Chakrata, Pankaj Kumar, deputy education officer, has asked teachers to write down the sentences on charts and hang them in schools.

Kumar said, “We will encourage students and teachers to use the shortlisted sentences from this academic session which starts in July. It is a great initiative which can be highly successful if everyone cooperates.”

Earlier this month, the state government began preparing a list of 50 common English words and sentences that would be introduced in schools to enhance the language skills of students.

Kids from schools which have Hindi as the medium of instruction often face challenges in competitive exams or while pursuing higher studies in streams like engineering or medical sciences where English is the primary medium of instruction. In 2016, the human resource development ministry (HRD) in an answer to a Lok Sabha question had revealed that Hindi continued to be the primary medium of instruction in schools across India with around 49% students studying in Hindi-medium schools.