‘Bilingual textbooks from next year in both mother tongue and English for subjects of Mathematics and Science’: Education Minister Ranoj Pegu

Guwahati: From the next academic year, students from Class VI to VIII will get bilingual textbooks in both their mother tongue and English for the subjects of Mathematics and Science. The state government is also preparing textbooks in the mother tongues of minor ethnic groups for students at the pre-primary level.

This was revealed by Education Minister Ranoj Pegu in the Assembly on the 11th day of the ongoing Budgest Session on Friday.

The Minister was responding to a resolution moved by Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia that those who want to study in English medium should be taught in English, and those who want to study in vernacular medium should be taught in their mother tongue.

Moving the resolution, Saikia said, “The state government has changed the language of mathematics and science textbooks for students from Class VI into English. But the National Education Policy 2020 placed special emphasis on the use of the mother tongue. Even the condition of Assamese-medium schools is in very poor shape. Many schools do not have a sufficient number of teaching staff, and a few schools also have a smaller number of students. As these challenges have appeared for Assamese-medium schools, the students should be given the choice of studying in either English or Assamese language.”

Ranoj Pegu, in his reply to this suggestion, said, “The government has always given more thrust on the use of the mother tongue. We are also giving importance to the mother tongues of small tribes and communities in the state. As a result, we have established 118 model schools in tea garden areas in the vernacular medium. Already, the foundation stones for another 100 model schools have been laid. The government has decided to provide funds of Rs 7 crore to each of the 450 schools in the state for infrastructure development.”

He further said, “We had provided textbooks of mathematics and science in the English language to students from Class VI to VIII, so that our students can learn English along with Assamese in schools. In the recently concluded Gunotsav, students of these classes appeared for the examinations in English. It is only when the results of Gunotsav come out that you will know whether our decision has the right outcome or not. But despite all this, we had consulted with various Xahitya Xabhas and teachers’ organisations regarding the language to be used in the textbooks. From the next academic year, the students from Classes VI to VIII will get bilingual mathematics and science textbooks in both their mother tongue and English. Students will have the option to choose their language of instruction, either in their mother tongue or English. Even the question papers will be bilingual. There are eight mediums of instruction in our schools. As of yet, the books in Assamese, Bodo, and Bengali have been turned into bilingual ones.”

Pegu further stated that the work has already started to bring out the books of smaller communities like Mising, Tiwa, Deuri, etc. at the pre-primary level in their own mother tongue.

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