Hyderabad, November 11: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday defended his decision of making English as the medium of instruction in government-run schools in the state and said that English is very  important for kids to compete with outside world. Reddy's statement comes days after he drew criticism from the Opposition for giving importance to English language in government schools over their mother tongue Telugu. While addressing a  gathering at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad birthday celebrations in Vijayawada, Reddy said some voices were raised against the decision of making English as the medium of instruction across all government schools.

Reddy said that today is the time when we are competing with the world and without English one cannot compete. "I am striving so that our children get good education, our children should study in English medium schools, all our schools should be in English medium", Reddy said. "They asked questions like why the English medium for the poor and is Telugu medium not enough for them? People like Chandrababu Naidu, Venkaiah Naidu, and Pawan Kalyan asked these questions", he added. Jagan Mohan Reddy is Acting Like a Psycho, Implementing Anti-people Policies, Says Chandrababu Naidu.

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Reddy's decision to convert all government schools into English medium schools has attracted criticism from the leaders who said that the move was detrimental to the cause of mother tongue Telugu and the decision was being implemented without adequate preparation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 11, 2019 08:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).