West Bengal to start English medium teaching in state-run schools from next academic year

The West Bengal government will introduce English medium in state-run schools side by side with Bengali from the next academic year.

“Now the state-run government schools will also offer English based education from the next academic year starting March/ April 2019,” West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told indianexpress.com. 

Chatterjee added that the initiative was taken by the government two years ago to benefit students from lower income background.

“The English medium education will start in fifty to sixty state-run schools initially in Kolkata and other districts of West Bengal. The government will introduce in other schools gradually,” Chatterjee said.

An official from the West Bengal board of secondary education said that the government has already made a list of schools where the English medium will be introduced.

“The list has been prepared on the basis of the Madhyamik (Class 10) and Uchha Madhyamik (Class 12) results of the previous years. The government has given preference to the best performing schools,” said the official.

The board will announce the name of the schools in January. The top state-run schools like Ballygunge government school, Hare school, Hindu school in Kolkata, Barasat government school in North 24 Parganas, Raiganj Coronation High schools are expected to be in the list.