Govt schools in Bihar to adopt regional dialects as medium of instruction

Express News Service

PATNA: Regional dialects of Bihar– Bhojpuri, Mainthali, Magahi will be the medium of instruction in all government schools of Bihar in the near future, state education minister Vijay Chaudhary said on Wednesday. 

With an aim to make comprehension of subjects easy in primary schools, the state government has decided to allow teaching the subjects in five regional languages. 

Discussing the budget of the education department in the state assembly, Chaudhary said that the decision was taken adhering to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Phaniswarnath Renu, further adding that the government has decided that all primary schools of the state will now have to impart teaching in local regional languages besides Hindi. “This will help children understand the basic things. They will grow more interested in their studies and their basic knowledge will also strengthen,” he said.

Over 80 per cent of children in rural areas of the state converse in the five regional languages namely Bhojpuri, Maithali, Vajjika, Magahi, and Angika.

As per the decision taken up by the education department, the medium of instruction in regional languages will be adopted in 42,573 government primary schools across the state.

For example, schools situated in the Bhojpuri belt will take up the respective dialect. In the Mithilanchal region, the teaching will be imparted in the Maithali dialect.

The education minister also appealed to the teachers of government primary schools to ensure that the move is implemented.

On Tuesday, Chaudhary had announced that the STET (Secondary teachers elementary test) certificates will have a lifelong validity in Bihar. “It has now been decided to extend the validity of STET certificate related to teacher appointment from class 1 to 8 for life from existing seven years”.

Meanwhile, the state government is going to launch a special enrolments drive christened as “Praveshutsav” (Admission festival) in government schools from March 8 to 20 in a bid to reduce the number of dropouts.