P.G. Exams in English: O.U. Vice-Chancellor defends decision

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 15. Osmania University has defended its decision to make mandatory for post-graduate students to write their examinations in English on the ground that without competent access to and proficiency in the language students cannot acquire the competitive edge to be successful in the job market.

At a press conference here on Friday, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. D.C. Reddy, wanted the students to understand the need for developing English language skills for their better future. The feedback from the industry clearly showed that the university students were being ignored largely for this reason, he argued.

Prof. Reddy maintained that the medium of instruction at the P.G. level was always in English and the option of writing in Telugu was a concession extended till they gained confidence. He reminded that Law students with Telugu medium background had been taking their examinations only in English all these years. So why can't others, he questioned. Moreover, the decision would be applicable only to the campus and constituent colleges where the semester system had been introduced.

Listing out the drawbacks of continuing with regional medium at the P.G. level, he stated that textbooks and quality reference material was not available in regional languages and that's likely to affect the standards of education. However, withdrawal of the option to write in Telugu should not be misconstrued as denigration of the usefulness of the language, he sought to explain.

However, the University, Prof. Reddy said, had taken into consideration the genuine difficulties likely to be experienced by the students. To overcome them, steps were being taken to design the question paper to make the content language free to a larger extent.

Accordingly, the first semester papers would reflect a balanced combination of objective type questions and short answer type questions. There would be no full length essay type answers, in English, as is the case now. Later, as a confidence building exercise, class tests would be conducted for them periodically.

Replying to a question, he said English Language Teaching (ELT) centre had been established where the students could join paying an almost negligible amount. Several students had already enrolled themselves in the ELT centre, he said.

With regard to the assurance of the Higher Education Minister, Mr. Karanam Ramachandra Rao, to the Assembly that necessary directions would be passed onto the university to review its decision, he said the university was yet to get the directions.

Meanwhile, the students' protests continued on Friday too. The ABVP activists held a demonstration in front of the Arts College after boycotting the classes.

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