Midway through academic year, 984 schools to switch to English medium

Bengaluru: Although half of the current academic year is over, the Department of School Education and Literacy has allowed 984 government to switch to English as the
medium of instruction in place of Kannada, or other languages.

Of the 984 schools where English will now be the medium of instruction, 894 are in Bengaluru Rural district. Of these, 237 are in Nelamangala taluk while the rest are in Doddaballapur, Devanahalli and Hosakote taluks..

The department’s order attributed the decision to growing demand from politicians who are aggressively pushing the bilingual project. “The schools will have to ensure sufficient resources locally. The department will not be responsible for it,” said a senior official in the Department of School Education and Literacy.

The official said that teachers who had enrolled in the English Medium Teachers’ Induction Programme could be enlisted to teach English-medium classes. Furthermore, taking cognisance of the rising demand for English, the department has decided to increase the class strength, said the official, expressing hope for increased enrolment for all classes in the 2026-27 academic year.

The medium of instruction will change for all classes at these schools. Teachers, however, felt that the department would have been better advised to wait till the conclusion of the current academic year.

“There are hardly four months left in the current academic year. They should have allowed the schools to switch to English from the 2026-27 academic year. Both teachers and students will find it tough to switch to English-medium midway through the academic year,” said a senior teacher at a government school in Bengaluru Rural.