Armed with YouTube, Punjab teachers take Telugu challenge head-on, classes begin under Bharatiya Bhasha camp

Indian Express

27-05-2025

Okati (one), rendu (two), moodu (three), naalugu (four), aidu (five), aaru (six), edu (seven) — these numbers reverberated in the classrooms of Punjab government schools as the students started learning the basics of Telugu language on Monday, as part of the week-long 'Bharatiya Bhasha Summer Camp 2025', following a direction issued by the Union Ministry of Education.
Armed with YouTube videos and study material provided by the Punjab Education Department, the teachers of classes 6 to 10 took the challenge to teach a new language to the children head on, even though they had to first learn the basics of Telugu for the first time in their lives. With the 'never say die spirit' Punjabis are known for, the Telugu classes commenced at most of the schools on Monday.
While it all may read too perfect, ground realities made it a herculean task for teachers in Punjab. While students were visibly excited to learn a new language, teachers say a training session would have helped them prepare better.
From script to pronunciation, teachers 'felt little nervous' that they might end up teaching students something wrong, unintentionally. However, teachers say, 'YouTube videos were a great help'.
At several schools, teachers even wrote Telugu alphabets and numbers in Punjabi, to make students understand better.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a Punjabi teacher from Bathinda district said: 'Students were curious to learn the new language, but first, we had to learn from scratch. We took help from the material provided by the Department, and YouTube videos.
We segregated students in groups, as per the Centre's order, and began the classes with lessons on alphabets and numbers. Had there been a training session for us, by Telugu experts, it would have been easier. I am sure Andhra Pradesh teachers must have also felt the same while teaching Punjabi.'
At most schools, English, Hindi, and Punjabi teachers were assigned the task to teach Telugu, with a few seeing Mathematics teachers doing the job.
An English teacher from Mohali said: 'The challenges are obvious as teachers also do not know the language. They are using videos, and making students learn Telugu. That's the best they can do… There are Samarth classes during the first four periods, and now, Telugu has been added. Studies would suffer… Thank God, this is only for seven days.'
Highlighting the ground realities, an English teacher from Ludhiana said though he appreciates the initiative, staff shortage was a challenge in the school. 'It is a good initiative, but we needed a training session — before such an abrupt order was issued. We have a severe staff shortage in the school. I'm a lecturer, but have to teach students of classes 9 and 10. Same goes for Punjabi and Economics teachers, who have to teach upper primary classes too… We have started Telugu language classes today (Monday), but it's not easy. Also, how can we teach Kuchipudi, a classical dance-drama originating from Andhra Pradesh, to students? We don't know it ourselves,' he said, laughing.
Another English teacher from Jalandhar, taking Telugu classes on Monday, said the 'idea was good in books', but ground realities in Punjab schools were not. 'Students do not even know their mother tongue Punjabi well, they are still learning. Without proper training, how can even teachers teach Telugu? Also, there's a sea of difference in the pronunciation in northern and southern regions… But yes, a positive outcome could be that Punjabi children would learn to be more tolerant. This exercise will bring awareness about different languages among them.'
A Mathematics teacher from Sangrur, who also had to take Telugu classes on Day 1 of the camp, said: 'Students were excited as well as about learning a new language. We took help of YouTube — it was basically self-learning, and then teaching the language. Our Hindi teacher also helped us… A training session would have been helpful, but teachers know how to manage such last-minute activities.'
Mentioning it was a refreshing experience, an English teacher from Mansa said: 'We had assumed students might not be interested in learning Telugu. But when we showed them the alphabets and numbers on a projector, they started asking questions, showing keen interest in the language. We also showed them YouTube videos. On Monday, they completed numbers 1-10, and have been assigned the homework of learning 11-20, with the help of the Internet. We also showed them historical structures of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana… Though we did not get any training, YouTube, with an audio-visual effect, has been an excellent source for us to learn. On Tuesday, we will teach them basic conversations and greetings in Telugu.'
Under the Central government's 'Bharatiya Bhasha Camp', different states from the North and the South have been paired to make students learn the basics of an additional language from other states, besides those in their school curriculum. Under the exchange programme, students in Punjab — which has been paired with Andhra Pradesh — are learning Telugu, and their counterparts Punjabi. Students will also be taught about historical monuments, food, culture, and dance among others to promote 'unity in diversity' under the Union government's 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' campaign.
Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab.
Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab.
She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC.
She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012.
Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab.
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