School Education Saga-XVII: English teaching gives jitters to migrant children in forest areas

Hyderabad: Migrant children from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh are facing a tough time learning the English language.

This stark reality comes to light at a time when the State government announced the introduction of English as a learning medium for all the Anganwadis in the tribal areas.

For example, the children attending the Mandal Praja Parishad School in Adavi Rama Varam village in Allapalli mandal of the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district. In all, 16 children have been attending primary classes at a two-room school located in the village. Out of them, nine children are facing a tough time coping with the English language.

Speaking to The Hans India, a local mandal official said that these children have migrated to the village from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh State along with their parents. They don't know even Telugu language and their mother tongue is somewhat akin to the Gond language spoken by the tribal community called Gonds, one of the primitive tribes.

The constraint faced by the teachers is that first they should be taught the Telugu ‘Aksharamala’ (Telugu alphabet). Once they pick it up reasonably, the teachers will have to introduce the learning of English alphabets to them, he added. However, the teachers are stressed about showing progress in the learning of children. This is making the teachers first make them learn the sounds of the English alphabet by showing the characters of the alphabet.

However, the problem found was that the children who have already adapted to the phonetics of their own mother tongue, a dialect, are trying their best to learn Telugu. Adding the English learning has become somewhat confusing to them.

Secondly, the content of the English language textbook is another constraint for them. Visweshwar Rao (name changed), an educational official from the area, said, “The SCERT books and its content are mostly suitable for the students from urban towns and areas.” Even some of the names in the content sound foreign to the children studying in the school located in the remote forest villages.

“The SCERT and the School Education Department should make efforts to customise the content for the students in these areas. This makes the students pick up the pace of learning,” he added.

When asked whether school children in other areas are also facing similar issues, he said that children studying in another place, Donga Thogu village are facing similar problems, as several of them are also children migrating to that area from the neighboring Chhattisgarh state.