Gujarat bows to widespread demand, focused on establishing English medium schools

Prior to this, students of Gujarati medium schools were taught English from Class 3.

Two years after announcing it would set up 100 English medium schools to cater to the demand for them at the district and taluka levels, the Gujarat Government seeks to establish them in the current academic year, a step ahead from introducing English as a subject from Class I in the 2022-23.

In 2022, in more than 32,000 government-run primary schools in Gujarat, where over 50 lakh students are enrolled from Classes 1-8, English was introduced as a subject from Class I for the first time in a move to make students conversant with the language, and to meet the demand of parents who wanted their offspring to learn the English language from early schooling onward.

Prior to this, students of Gujarati medium schools were taught English from Class 3.

Earlier, in September 2021, in a circular, the State Education Department had proposed to set up English medium schools in several districts, including Mehsana and Aravalli in north Gujarat, tribal-dominated Dangs in south Gujarat, and the rural districts of Ahmedabad and Surat.

The State Education Department runs more than 32,000 primary schools across Gujarat but nearly all of them are in the Gujarati medium, with a few schools in the Hindi medium and in other languages.

“We introduced the English subject from Class 1 in 2022-23 and now, we will set up schools with English as the medium,” Gujarat’s School Education Secretary Vinod Rao.