UP govt set to run 5k English-medium primary schools
LUCKNOW: With the craze for English-medium schools growing, all eyes will be on government-run 5,000 English-medium primary schools which will become operational with the launch of School Chalo Abhiyan on Monday, minister of state for basic education Anupama Jaiswal said on Sunday.
“Parents queue up for Englishmedium schools. So we thought why not have government-run English-medium schools to cater to the demand. We will run English-medium schools in each block to provide free education to children,” she said. Officials of education department and principals of schools are using social media to promote English-medium schools for admissions.
According to education department officials, the decision was taken as there was a huge demand for English-medium schools.
“We have identified teachers and have given them postings. The move will encourage parents to withdraw their children from private schools and send them to government-run institutions,” the minister said. The government has set up five English-medium schools in each block in all the 75 districts of the state. There are over 820 blocks in UP. “Instead of setting up new schools, the government has converted existing schools to English-medium institutions after giving training to teachers and providing English books,” said director, basic education, Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh.
“Two years ago, the Samajwadi Party government had set up two such schools in every district of the state and the response was overwhelming. The attendance of students went up. This prompted the BJP government to plan more such schools in the state,” an official said.