Coimbatore: The vocational English course, introduced last year for first-year undergraduate students of non-autonomous arts and science colleges in the state, is likely to end from the next academic year.
The curriculum was introduced to introduce the students to the terminology related to their subjects and taught by the respective subject teachers.
Initiated by former Higher Education Secretary S Apoorva, it was introduced as an additional subject of 1 hour per day equivalent to the main subjects.
While it came into effect from the 2020-21 academic year, it drew criticism as teachers of the core subject were asked to handle the subject without a background in English literature. Apart from this, it was also made mandatory for the students to clear the paper to get their degree.
However, the move received good support from private colleges as they claimed that it helped the main subject teachers to interact better with the students.
But, it was unfair for teachers of Tamil, Mathematics and other subjects to be asked to teach a professional English subject.
An employee of a private arts and science college in Coimbatore said, “Teaching English was a learning experience for the core subject teachers, who were oriented through a few workshops on handling the subject.”
But there was a poor response from the students for the course. The Professional English course was introduced with the aim of helping students from government arts colleges with rural backgrounds become proficient in speaking, reading and writing English.
A senior official of the Higher Education Department, who was part of the project, said that students from rural areas pass their degrees, but most of them do not have the language proficiency to express themselves and when it comes to better jobs .
“Discussions on ending the Business English curriculum are ongoing.
It may not be part of the syllabus from the next academic year. An official announcement is expected soon,” said a senior official of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE).
Last year, Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva took up the matter with the University Grants Commission (UGC), which asked the state government to address the issue appropriately.
Shiva told TOI that making the subject compulsory for students to obtain their degrees was a bit difficult when offline classes were not possible due to the pandemic.
“If the higher education department feels that the subject is essential and it will make students proficient in English, then let them offer it after the pandemic. But non-English literature teachers being forced to handle a professional English paper will not yield the desired result,” he said.
M Krishnaraj, secretary of the Joint Action Council of College Teachers of Tamil Nadu, said that TANSCHE had assured cancellation of the course.
“English cannot be taught by other subject teachers and it would be ideal if it was handled by English teachers,” he said.
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