Govt school students upset with English language syllabi

Ranchi: Several students from the government-run schools across the state sat on a day-long dharna outside the Raj Bhavan here on Sunday seeking a review of their English language syllabi.
The students, protesting under the banner of “Jharkhand Sarkari Vidyalaya Chatra Sangh”, were from different government schools in the Patratu block of Ramgarh district.
They claimed that the current English syllabi for classes I to X do little in terms of imparting them proficiency and command over the language.
Taufiq Alam, who sat for his Class X exam this year and was part of the protesters, said, “Those who are in or passed their Class X examination are not able to understand simple sentences in English. This is a problem being faced by every student studying in the government schools.”
Another student protester, Chulbul Pandey, who is in Class VI of a government middle school in Patratu, claimed that they were not taught English grammar. “We have only one textbook which lacks basic information on grammar. We come from rural areas and need to know it from scratch. Hence, our books must have Hindi translations of the English sentences,” Pandey said.
Azad Rai, who coordinated the dharna, said, “In 2020, we had written to the then governor Droupadi Murmu, chief minister Hemant Soren and education minister Jagarnath Mahto but nothing has happened. Hence, we staged a dharna here today.”
Officials of the Jharkhand Academic Council did not respond to TOI’s calls for a comment on the students’ demands.