VISAKHAPATNAM/HYDERABAD: Parents and students across the state are up in arms against the government move to make Telugu compulsory in all schools and colleges, saying it would affect grades and will be difficult for students to pick up a language from the scratch in higher classes.

Worried students from CBSE , ICSE and IB boards complained that imposing such a rule will only burden them. Parents maintained that students, especially those from other states, should be given an option.

Madhuri Singh, a parent of two kids who study in a CBSE school in Vizag said, "the choice should be left with us. For a person from north India, learning Telugu would be an additional burden. The academic pressure is already high with other subjects and now learning a new language would be very tough."

Currently students in schools and colleges have the liberty to choose Hindi, Sanskrit, Telugu, Arabic, French or German as their third language depending on their institution.

An active member of a Vizag-based parent association said such a move, if at all, should be introduced in primary classes only. "Anything made compulsory after class VIII would be a burden on students who would be writing the Class X exams soon," he said. Vasu Prakash , director of Sri Prakash Educational Institution , which runs ICSE, CBSE and state board schools in the port city described the government move as confusing. "We are a bit confused about the development. We have to first understand whether it will be introduced only in state boards or also in central board institutions," Prakash said.

The government's intention to make the language compulsory in Intermediate and degree colleges too earned a lot of flak from the student community. "I have been in Hyderabad for seven years, but I find Telugu difficult to learn. I still can't speak it fluently, let alone read or writ the language," said Shreyans Dungarwal, a north Indian and a final year student at St Mary's College, Yousufguda. "Almost 40 % of students in my college comprise people who are from other states. It is just not the right thing to do," he said.

However, making Telugu compulsory will leave no scope for students to pick up a new language or learn a foreign tongue, lament teachers of other languages. "The government cannot enforce a rule like this which compels students to learn the state language. The second language status is all about options," said Nagaraja Sarma, a French lecturer at St Francis College for Women in Hyderabad. Although educationists supported the idea of making students learn their state language, they openly criticised the method. "It should be introduced in the lower classes. But imposing it on college students who have not studied the language before is not right," said Fr Emmanuel, principal of Loyola Degree College.