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19 May 2008, 0122 hrs
IST ,Rema
Nagarajan,TNN
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English gains as learning medium |
Now 3rd Biggest Medium Of Instruction
With English giving India a huge
advantage in the global economy, it is only natural
that more Indians are opting to educate their kids in
English-medium schools. What may come as a surprise is
the pace at which this is happening. Nationwide
enrolment in the upper primary section of
English-medium schools rose 74% during 2003-2006.
In actual figures, this is a rise from 54.7 lakh
students in 2003 to 95.1 lakh in 2006. Data collected
by the
National
University
for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) show
that over the same period, enrolment in Hindi (the
dominant language) medium schools grew by 24% from 6.3
crore to 7.8 crore.
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PEOPLE'S
CHOICE |
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Enrolment by medium of
instruction in India (Class I to VIII) |
|
2005-06 |
2003-04 |
|
Medium of Instruction |
No. of children enrolled |
% of total enrolment |
No. of children enrolled |
% of total enrolment |
|
Hindi |
7,83,74,227 |
52.2 |
6,31,63,357 |
49.5 |
|
Marathi |
1,21,21,341 |
8.0 |
1,11,14,951 |
8.7 |
|
English |
95,10,381 |
6.3 |
54,66,008 |
4.3 |
|
Telugu |
87,44,863 |
5.8 |
80,72,140 |
6.3 |
|
Tamil |
75,70,536 |
5.0 |
74,93,405 |
5.9 |
|
Gujarati |
67,02,038 |
4.4 |
63,40,761 |
5.0 |
|
Kannada |
57,69,404 |
3.8 |
64,04,617 |
5.0 |
|
Oriya |
55,08,523 |
3.6 |
56,15,384 |
4.4 |
|
Assamese |
32,489,26 |
2.1 |
28,47,257 |
2.2 |
|
Urdu |
28,98,809 |
1.9 |
25,51,662 |
2.0 |
|
Malayalam |
28,30,950 |
1.8 |
32,14,893 |
2.5 |
|
India* |
15,00,36,836 |
100 |
12,74,31,057 |
100 |
|
* Total Enrolment |
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The growth of English is more in
non-Hindi speaking states, mostly the southern states
which account for over 60% of the
students enrolled in
English-medium schools in the three-year period.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, in that
order, account for the highest jump in numbers in
enrolment.
TN, which had the largest number of students enrolled
in English-medium schools in 2003, was outstripped by
AP by 2006. In AP, the number of students enrolled in
English-medium schools nearly doubled in this period —
from 10.6 lakh to 20.9 lakh. In TN, the numbers jumped
from 14.7 lakh to 17.2 lakh; and in Maharashtra, from
10.6 lakh to 11.9 lakh.
English-medium also accounts for well over 90% of the
enrolment in the northeastern states. However, up
north, the growth of English has been sluggish except
in Punjab and Gujarat where enrolment went up by over
93,000 and 60,000 respectively — not so high when
compared with the southern states
rema.nagarajan@timesgroup.com
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