E-Paper
Language labs to come in select UP govt secondary schools
To be set up in schools of all 18 divisional headquarters of state, these labs will help students learn foreign languages
In an effort to improve language proficiency of students of government-run secondary schools, language labs will be set up in select such schools in all 18 divisional headquarters of Uttar Pradesh in the next two years, a senior state secondary education department official aware of the move.
These divisional headquarters include Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Meerut and Prayagraj among others. These schools will also be provided with facilities for teaching foreign languages. Appointment of part-time teachers to teach these languages would be made as part of the initiative, the official added.
The responsibility of making this possible has been entrusted to the secretaries of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad or UP Board and Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Shiksha Parishad, the official added.
The mission was spelled out in a recent missive sent to additional education director (secondary/government/basic), secretary, UP Board and secretary, UP Sanskrit Education Board among others by director, secondary education, Mahendra Dev.
The missive, a copy of which is with HT, spells out that teaching and learning of Hindi, Sanskrit as well as modern and ancient Indian languages will be emphasised as part of this exercise. Arrangements will also be made to teach modern Indian languages of other states in one such government secondary school in each of the 75 districts of the state, officials said.
The officials said as part of the initiative, literature on classical languages will be made available in the library of a government school at every divisional headquarters. Online modules will also be prepared for the study of these languages as an option for the students.
Now students will be informed about the conservation of culture and heritage and the importance of artefacts and images through arts and crafts. For this, art rooms are proposed to be set up in 600 secondary schools of the state. Officials believe that engaging in creative activities will give students the opportunity to express themselves and become competent in positive, tangible and meaningful ways, said education department officials.
