Telugu to be a compulsory subject in all Telangana schools till class 10
The move comes amid concerns in Tamil Nadu over the imposition of Hindi language by the Centre through the National Education Policy 2020.
The Telangana government has made it compulsory to include Telugu language as a subject for classes 1 to 10 in all boards across all the schools in the state. The state government has directed all boards including CBSE, ICSE, IB and others to include Telugu language as a compulsory subject from the upcoming academic year of 2025-26.
According to a government order, the language will be replaced from its standard form to a simple form in the syllabus for students of classes 9th and 10, starting from academic years 2025-26 and 2026-2027 respectively. Including the simple textbook in the syllabus will help students whose native tongue is not Telugu, said a government release.
The move, which aims at promoting the use of local language in the state, comes years after the state government had introduced the Telangana (Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools) Act back in 2018.
The act was introduced in order to make Telugu a compulsory subject across all schools in the state, including those aided by government Zilla Parishad, and mandal parishad and affiliated with CBSE, ICSE, IB and other boards. The act was, however, not implemented fully across the state by the previous BRS government, said the official release according to a report by news agency PTI.
The current Congress government has now decided to ensure strict implementation of the act.
‘Language war’
The move comes after the chief minister of neighbouring Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, warned the central government that the state was ready for another “language war” on Tuesday against what it called imposition of Hindi through the National Education Policy 2020.
On Tuesday, actor-turned-politician Ranjana Natchiyaar resigned from Bharatiya Janata Party’s primary membership citing attempts to impose the three-language policy. She blamed "the imposition of the three-language policy”, "hatred towards the Dravidian ideology" and neglect of Tamil Nadu for her disenchantment towards the BJP in her resignation letter.
