Govt school teachers tasked with teaching Telugu at week-long summer camp

More than the students, it’s a summer class for teachers. Learning Telugu together are teachers and students of government schools in Punjab. As the project, part of the week-long ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Summer Camp 2025’, organised following a directive issued by the Union Ministry of Education, commenced, teachers across all government schools are teaching Telugu to students from Class VI to Class X, making the process amusing as well as challenging for both the students and their teachers. But then, when have Punjabis backed off from a challenge?

“We started with numbers and basic words of greetings in Telugu as they were easier for us to learn. Without any heads up or training ourselves, we have to rely on YouTube videos as we try to make things work in class,” said Mandeep Singh, a teacher at the Government Middle School, near Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. Just like Mandeep, several teachers across government schools in Amritsar have taken up the task of teaching Telugu, a language most are clueless about.

Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have been paired under the programme as per directives from the Union Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy. As part of the exchange, students from classes VI to X in Punjab government schools will learn the basics of Telugu, while Andhra Pradesh government schools will reciprocate by teaching Punjabi to their students. The pan-India initiative aims to encourage students to learn an additional Indian language to promote multilingualism and appreciation for regional cultures.

But what seems like a lesson for students has in turn become a test for teachers. “We can make them learn numbers and basic words of courtesy but how can we teach songs, folk dance forms and other aspects when we do not know much about them. Also, what’s the use of this exercise when the students will not grow any wiser in Telugu even after seven days,” asked an English language teacher from a government school inside the walled city.

Some teachers also created their own learning material for easy understanding. “We converted the numbering in Telugu into Punjabi to make students learn faster. Also, we have asked them to practice by watching YouTube videos at home as well,” said a teacher from Majitha road school.

Amritsar