Impart basic English at an early age

BANGALORE: Department of Education and NGOs on Monday held a summit on the need for enhancement of the quality of education, Innovation and introducing students to out of class room practical experiences. Both the department and the NGOs are dedicated towards empowering teachers to handle the children and impart basic English education at an early age for better understanding of subjects. The Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka S V Ranganath, who was the chief guest said, “The children need to be tutored in English at an early age. At the age of eight, if a child gets exposed to this international language, it will be easy for him/her to grasp other things.  First the teachers need to have good communication skills to handle the class room environment well. For that, a comprehensive training is required.”He further added, for subjects like Science, Maths, English and Geography the department has sufficient teachers with good knowledge, but they are camera shy especially in rural areas. This set of teachers need to be exposed to broadband. For this, Department of Primary and Secondary Education will have to pitch in. “Our focus should be quality of education. In China, more than 90 per cent importance is given to the education sector, we also have to catch up to that standard.” Principal Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education Kumar Naik, said that the government will bring in new textbooks for 5th and 8th standard level in the coming academic year. “To set standards in education sector, the government will set specific standards under Right to Education (RTE) which talks about 25 per cent reservation for weaker section in all aided institution, that will be spread across all schools in coming days. The government is ready to reimburse the fee amount of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per child to encourage education among weaker sections”The Shikshana Foundation with the help of other NGOs was successful in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. It empowered schools, local communities and more importantly partnered with the government to monitor progress and refine the system. Chairman of Shikshana Foundation, Ramprasad addressing the gathering said that they would like to bring the same technique here in the state by partnering with state government. “Our goal is to keep the focus right, that is happiness and well being of children at school” added Ramprasad.