60,000 Marathi schools to echo with sounds of English

For the parent and academic community that had looked on dubiously at the additional “burden” on young minds, the final syllabus prepared by a 28-member committee and approved by the State in February advocates not the “A for apple” approach, but a fun, interactive way of introducing children to the sound of English, teaching discrimination between sounds, developing correct verbal and non-verbal responses to greetings and instructions.

With a single textbook (with pronunciations in Marathi script) to be introduced simultaneously for classes I to IV and divided into listening and conversational skills, it includes 350 illustrated words common to English and Marathi, from the ubiquitous engine and tractor, to table, radio, TV and of course, cricket! The alphabet finds no place for classes I and II.

Supported by flash cards, charts and teaching aids to be prepared by SCERT within a month, the syllabus only arms students with the minimum conversational skills. From answering with a simple yes or no or a few more words, to recognising shapes and colours, associating pictures with the spoken words, recognising names of a minimum three to five objects in every class, and finally reading aloud familiar words and names of classmates and teachers, is what the curriculum subscribes.

Launched with Rs two crore from the state, Rs 8.5 crore from the Centre and Rs 2.5 crore from the District Planning Education Project (DPEP) World Bank funds, the exercise aims at “imparting an introductory knowledge of English to enhance the confidence of students who today find themselves confronting the language at Standard V,” says More, chairman of the syllabus committee.

With the subject to be introduced in phases, a new compulsory English textbook for classes II, III and IV will be introduced from 2001. For classes III and IV, a fresh syllabus will be introduced in 2002, and for class IV in 2003.

Considering the whopping four crore textbooks to be printed and distributed, a free copy will be provided to all schools and teachers. Students will avail of the textbook only from the second term, says More. English will be taught for a stipulated five periods a week, cutting into the nine periods set aside for work experience so far.

The teacher’s handbook for English instruction prepared by the SCERT will be out within a month. Recognising that the ultimate success of the project depends on the abilities of the teaching community, 50 per cent of the State’s primary school teachers, from the single teacher schools to half of the teaching force in multi-teacher schools, will undergo residential training programmes, an exercise to be repeated every year.

From May 3 to 7, 152 key resource persons will be trained by the SCERT in Lonavla. They will conduct a residential training programme for 1,500 teachers in Pune from May 15-20. And this group of 1,500 will train 15,000 teachers at the district-level from June 1-6. Training for 1.5 lakh teachers, an average of 600 per taluka, will be conducted from June 8 to 13, just in time for schools to re-open.