The government of Andhra Pradesh has now decided to introduce English as a subject from class-1 as against the earlier system from class-IV. This will be prevalent from the session 2011-2012.
Way back in eighties, there was a strong movement in India to replace English with either lingua franca or vernacular languages. Mulayam Singh, the astute politician from Uttar Pradesh went to the extent of abolishing the use of English at government levels. He termed the English educated as more corrupt than the ordinary Hindi speaking masses.
But this did not last for a long time. As information technology made its headway with its formidable prowess of recruitment in the late eighties, bringing in its wake the process of globalization, English as a language remained irreplaceable.
There was a time, when our politicians and educationists felt for introducing relaxing norms for passing exams in English in the course curriculum of vernacular-medium schools, just to decrease the percentage of drop-outs but that created opportunities for convent schools.
Hopefully, other state governments will follow this progressive action taken by the Andhra Government soon.