Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu is actively working to promote Telugu in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Thanks to his impassioned appeal to promote Telugu, the K. Chandrasekhar Rao led TRS government in Telangana has made the language compulsory in all schools up to standard 12 in the state.
Under the new policy, all schools, including English and Urdu medium schools, will have to teach Telugu as a subject up to std 12, irrespective of their board affiliations. This decision has created commotion among English medium schools affiliated with the CBSE and ISC, where Telugu currently is an optional subject.
CM KCR took this decision after Venkaiah Naidu made an appeal for the same during his civic reception held in Hyderabad on 14 August.
This decision is expected to boost the employment opportunities of Telugu language teachers by around 20,000 this year.
In Urdu medium schools, Telugu is replaced by any European languages as second language or third language, for which marks are not counted for final result.
KCR has also instructed the Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC) to include Telugu language and literature as subjects for all competitive tests conducted by it for the purpose of jobs recruitment. Proficiency in Telugu is a must for a candidate to get a Group-1 job in Telangana henceforth, said Vithal, a member of TSPSC.
The TSPSC is in the process of making Telugu proficiency a criteria for appointment in administrative posts and if it is finalised, the candidate with knowledge in the language would be in a better position to secure jobs. The TSPSC member said that neighbouring Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala too were following similar policies for the promotion of local languages.
Venkaiah not only thanked the Telangana Chief Minister for his decision, but also expressed the hope that the government would allocate enough funds to promote the language and literature. Telangana Official Language Commission chairman Devulapalli Prabhakar Rao told The Sunday Guardian that people of both the Telugu states will be indebted to the Vice President.
Andhra Pradesh too is in the process of making Telugu compulsory up to the12th standard from the next academic year, 2018-19. AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asked the officials to take steps to encourage Telugu in government transactions and give preference to those with knowledge of the language in higher administrative postings.
Venkaiah made a similar appeal to AP government too when he was felicitated by the CM in Amaravati on 20 August. He told Chandrababu Naidu that he was very happy with his elevation to the second highest constitutional post in the country. “I have no more desires now, except to see the revival of the Telugu language in at least Telugu speaking sates,” Venkaiah Naidu had said at the time.
“We are happy that our Vice-President has taken the initiative to promote Telugu at least in Telugu speaking states. We are aware of the great danger to the language as most parents prefer English medium schools where Telugu is completely taken off. Very soon, we will issue orders to make the langue compulsory in AP too,” said AP Education Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.