In a progressive move, Gujarat education minister Jitu Vaghani, on Thursday, announced in the Assembly that English as a subject will be introduced from Class 1 in all state government schools from the new academic session commencing in June 2022. Currently, English as a subject is introduced in government schools onwards Class 3.
“Gujarati is mandatory. But English is important and will now be taught to Class 1 and 2 students too,” Vaghani stated during the discussion on the Education Budget. There are more than 32,000 government primary schools (from Class 1-8) in Gujarat, with an enrolment of more than 51 lakh students.
The move is being viewed to ease the transition to higher grades, which employ English as the medium of instruction. Herein, children from vernacular mediums fail to grapple with technical jargons in English and hence perform miserably in the SSC. Also, the suggestion is based post consultations with parents and students during drafting of the New Education Policy.
Excellent.