Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy chairperson and YSRCP General Secretary Lakshmi Parvathi on Friday defended Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy's decision to convert all government schools into English medium from the next academic year and said that the people of the state wanted this.
"During Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy's padayatra, people met and urged him to provide English medium education in schools. He has only done what the people wanted. This will also help in the upliftment of the poor and lower-earning families in the state," Parvathi said.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued an order on Wednesday stating that it will introduce English as a medium of education in all government schools in the state from the next academic year.
The state government order mentions that classes from 1 to 6 will be converted into English medium from the academic year 2020-21. Other classes will shift to English gradually.
She further emphasised that it will not affect the regional Telugu language in the estate which is a major concern currently.
"All the private schools in the state are teaching in English Medium only. Private corporate schools are looting lakhs of rupees in the name of fees. In order to protect their vested interests, TDP's N Chandrababu Naidu had shut down 6000 government schools and did not develop those schools. Now Jagan has only taken this decision to protect the poor people from this looting of private schools," she added.
Parvathi further slammed Naidu and said: "He and others got their children educated in English Medium. Long back Naidu had said that he and Venkaiah Naidu would have born in the US if they would have a chance. This proves his affection towards the Telugu state."
"Why did Naidu not work for classical status to the Telugu language? AP is the first lingual state in India. And it is he who gave the first letter for bifurcation of the state. Why Naidu never tried for Bharat Ratna to NTR, who found TDP and worked for Telugu pride. After bifurcation, Telugu University is left in Telangana. Why Naidu did not bring the university to Andhra. He did nothing for the development of Telugu language," she added.
She said that he did not celebrate the Andhra Pradesh formation day and that his son Lokesh cannot speak properly either in Telugu or English. "These people don't have any moral right to speak about Telugu," she quipped.
The YSRCP's general secretary said that Venkaiah Naidu could become a towering personality as he is well versed in English and Hindi. She said that those interested in Telugu can pursue their academics in the language, complete their graduation, PG, MPhil and PH D in Telugu. She said that the state government will not do injustice to the Telugu language.
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