With the implementation of English medium in all the government schools of Telangana, the second phase of English medium training has begun for primary teachers who are working in government schools. Throughout this phase, teachers will be participating in various activities such as writing on issues, giving presentations on the assigned topics, discussions, role-playing and recitation.
On the other hand, for further preparation, teachers were asking for hard copy material from the trainers who are from Azim Premji University. The majority of the primary teachers were unable to communicate in English whereas 25 per cent of them were able to read and speak in English. The trainers of the session are giving greater emphasis on communication skills instead of pedagogy.
All the primary teachers were not content with the training session. According to the teachers, the training must be subjective. Instead of teaching how to explain the subject in English in the classroom, the mentors are only focusing on communication during a week-long training session. They also stated that it will be difficult to explain lessons in English to the students in the classroom.
According to the mentors of Azim Premji University, online training had started after week-long offline training classes. During the session, all the participants were actively involved in the tasks given to them. As many teachers were seeking written material, the university is looking to prepare materials soon.
"This training session has inspired many teachers to speak in English, we are giving different tasks and activities to teachers, encouraging them to participate in activities and the results are positive," says Nazeer Ahmed, a mentor.
From the next academic year, English medium will be implemented from Classes I to IX, whereas, otehr classes will take it up gradually in the academic year 2024 and 2025. Among the total of 81,590 teachers, 52,924 are primary school teachers and 28,666 are secondary school teachers. All the teachers are being trained in English.
