FUN IN LEARNING: English class in progress at Government Primary School at Basavanagudi on Wednesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Govindaiah G., principal of Government Higher Primary School, Kanteerava Nagar, and members of his staff have been visiting every household in the neighbourhood, urging parents to send their children to his school. They distributed pamphlets and spoke about the free meals, free books and free uniforms that children get.

Into this basket of native offerings, a new "foreign" ingredient has been introduced this year. English is now being offered as a subject from Standard I. This additional incentive is seen as the reason for a 20 per cent increase in admissions this year in the school, according to Mr. Govindaiah.

A week into the academic year, many government schools are yet to get English textbooks and teacher manuals. But a random visit to government schools across the city revealed high expectations among schools from the introduction of English. In fact, most of them re-opened ahead of schedule to start the enrolment campaign.

Athar Sultan, English teacher at the Government Higher Primary School, Palace Guttahalli, said that many children come with rudimentary English skills.

"We were surprised to find a few children reciting rhymes. Parents want their children to be well-versed in English and teach them early," she said.

Narayanaswamy V.M., principal of a government school in Adugodi, said that four children from a nearby private school have shifted to the government school. "Their parents could not pay the fee. Now, they want to come here because we also teach English," he said.

A section of teachers, though have apprehensions. "Our students come from poor families and live in circumstances where coming to school is an achievement in itself. There is no infrastructure back home to support learning. It is hard to teach them one language. Teaching them two at a time will not be an easy task," said Shyamala S. Sidhia, principal of the Government Primary and Higher Primary School, Basavanagudi. Teachers will, in fact, be taking remedial classes an hour before and after school for those needing extra help from August.

"Easy or not, we now have to teach because it is an order," said B. Badarinatha, a teacher at the school. It is difficult for minority language government schools. Sanjida Shumail, teacher at the Government Urdu Higher Primary School, Palace Guttahalli, said: "The number of students coming to our school has been decreasing. Every street here has either a private or an aided school."

Mary Auxilia, headmistress of the Government Tamil Primary School in Shivajinagar, echoed similar views.

"This is a locality of rich people and not many would want to come to a government school. Even very poor people bend over backwards to send their children to private schools. While we are trained teachers and have been appointed through a legitimate process, many private schools hire people who have just passed PUC," she said.

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