Telugu must in all schools

Telangana Assembly on Saturday passed the Bill to make Telugu compulsory in all schools.

However, the flip flop of the state government on the issue continued with the Act stating that Telugu would be introduced only in Class I and Class VI this year (2018-19).

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier during the World Telugu Conference held in city in December last announced that it would be implemented till Class XII. On March 20, Mr Rao came out with a fresh announcement that it would be introduced only till Class X and a Bill would be tabled in the Assembly.

Telangana Assembly on Saturday passed the Bill to make Telugu compulsory in all schools.

However, on Saturday, when the Bill was passed, Deputy CM and education minister Kadiam Srihari said the government had decided to implement compulsory Telugu in two stages at Primary Level from Class I to V and Secondary Level from Class VI to X.

He said it would be introduced in Class I at the primary level and Class VI at the secondary level starting 2018-19 and extended to a higher class every year, which would mean that it would take five years to cover all classes till Class X.

Mr Srihari said the decision was taken to ensure that existing students did not face trouble on account of compulsory Telugu for all students till Class X at one go.

The Assembly also passed Bills giving power to the state government to appoint a DGP of its choice, regularisation of assigned lands in possession of third parties and scraping of one-year compulsory service in government hospitals for PG medical students for registration as doctors.