CBSE schools in Hyderabad in a bind over ‘teach in mother tongue' rule

Time of India

28-05-2025

Hyderabad: The Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) latest diktat on teaching young students in the mother tongue until class 2 has left many top schools scrambling, as managements now need Telugu-speaking teachers to comply with the rule.
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At many top schools, according to principals, over 40% of their staff are non-Telugu teachers.
According to the new rule, which is part of the National Education Policy (NEP), a student should be taught in their mother tongue or in the state language until class 2. The new rule would come into force from the 2025-26 academic year, which starts in June.
'Teachers are going to be the major problem to implement this. Either we conduct Telugu classes for teachers or hire assistant teachers to help them translate the subject,' Delhi School, Kompally, academic director Simi Nagi said.
She said in many schools, at least 40% were non-Telugu-speaking teachers . 'When it comes to top schools, hardly 10% of the teachers will be locals,' Simi Nagi, who is also part of Hyderabad Sahodaya Schools Complex, which has all CBSE schools as members, added.
Principals pointed out that making Telugu, which is also the state language the medium of instruction, would not be easy as both students and teachers were from across the country.
'Not just Telangana, any state that has people with transferable jobs, it is not going to be easy to implement this, as students keep moving from one state to another. In fact, many teachers who joined in the last decade or so, despite being locals, do not have a strong hold on the language, as their medium of instruction back in school was English," Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur, principal S Narasimha Reddy said.
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Seconding Reddy, Ch Rekha Rao from Oxford School said that in the era of globalisation, this was a step in the wrong direction. 'For young children, it is advisable to communicate in one language to help them grasp quickly. Introducing them to too many languages will confuse them. It makes more sense to have the medium of instruction as English only,' she added.
Some of the school managements, however, welcomed the move and said that a direction like this would help students studying in state syllabus schools. 'In our schools, the majority know Telugu. Students will definitely understand better if the subject is taught in their mother tongue. Once they have a strong foundation in the younger classes, they will understand subjects easily in higher classes as well,' Shekhar Rao Y of the Telangana Recognised Schools' Management Association said.