Telugu exam: NRI students in a bind

Jeddah: The mandatory implementation of Telugu as the second language for Class X students in Telangana State has left the student community hailing from the State and living in the Gulf region perplexed. A significant number of students from the Telugu States study in CBSE-affiliated schools in the Gulf region. Every academic year, hundreds of […]

Jeddah: The mandatory implementation of Telugu as the second language for Class X students in Telangana State has left the student community hailing from the State and living in the Gulf region perplexed.

A significant number of students from the Telugu States study in CBSE-affiliated schools in the Gulf region. Every academic year, hundreds of students in grade 8 and 9 shift to their parents’ homeland and continue further studies since there is no favourable under-graduation or higher study facilities for NRI students in the region. Besides, the prevailing volatile job market in the Gulf has also forced many families to return home.
However, students irrespective of their mother tongue status, face the challenge of taking Telugu as a second language back home. Telugu is being taught as the second language in some CBSE schools in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain where students opted for the language foreseeing the need in future back home in India but the same option is not available in all schools including educational institutions in Dubai where a majority of the students go for Arabic as second language irrespective of their mother tongue or religious background.

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“Due to the lack of Telugu as a second language option, my ward chose Arabic as second language”, said Dubai-based NRI Stephen Daniele Babji, who hails from East Godavari and whose mother tongue is Telugu. His daughter is studying in a leading Indian school in Dubai city where Telugu is not available like other schools.

Venkat Suresh, a chartered accountant in Ras Al Khaima, said his two wards opted for Hindi since Telugu as an option was not available. According to Anil Kumar, a prominent NRI in Muscat, Oman, his two children selected Sanskrit and French as second languages due to the lack of Telugu.

“My daughter studies in 9th grade but faces difficulty in writing in Telugu,” says R Savita Reddy, a former Dubai resident who recently shifted to Warangal.

“My son, Mohammed Hamid Ali, was born and brought up in Saudi Arabia, and now, we are moving to Hyderabad. Telugu as a second language for him is a big challenge for me” said Mohammed Asad Ali, a native of Jangaon district who works in Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia.

Similar views were echoed by many other parents from the Telugu States.