An education panel, formed of Secretaries on education, has recommended that English should be made “a compulsory subject in all schools from class 6th onwards” and there should be at least one government-run English-medium school in each of the 6,612 blocks in the country.
The Group on Education & Social Development has recommended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “at least one English medium school (be set up) in every block along with Science education facility in a radius of 5 kms,” according to a report by the Indian Express.
The Group, which had secretaries of Higher Education as well as School Education & Literacy as members, formed its recommendations after consultations with state governments.
The recommendation is in contrast with the education policy that RSS, the parent organisation of BJP which rules the Centre, has been pushing.
The RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) had last October suggested to the HRD Ministry that the medium of instruction from elementary to higher levels in schools should be the mother tongue and English should not be compulsory at any level.
The education policy in India is guided by the Three Language Formula as laid down in the National Policy on Education (Parliamentary Resolution) of 1968. While the formula provides the study of Hindi, English and “modern Indian language” in Hindi-speaking states, non-Hindi-speaking states teach regional language, English and Hindi.
The 12-member group of secretaries has also recommended that the reintroduction of “policy of detention in secondary schools” and has suggested that states should be given the freedom to decide at which level or class the detention policy will come.
It has also suggested skill training and remedial interventions from Class 6 besides a basic aptitude test and counseling to be introduced in Class 8 for “proper career planning”.
The panel has also made several recommendations to improve higher education.
The group has recommended the standardisation of post-school national exams for entrance to all higher educational institutions through a National Testing Organisation that would conduct entrance test for admissions into medical, engineering and other courses, such as JEE, NEET, UGC NET, CAT, GATE and CMAT.
It has also suggested making 50 best colleges autonomous and giving them administrative, academic and financial autonomy which would allow them to fix their fees and curriculum. It said that the university curriculum be reviewed every three years by all departments.
The group is one of the 10 Groups of Secretaries formed by the Prime Minister last October to review the work done by the Union Government in the respective sectors and provide “new ideas” to push the reform agenda further.
