The Delhi government will start a free spoken English course, in the first phase of which one lakh youth will be trained, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Saturday.
“We have seen how the children of the poor, lower middle class and middle class sometimes suffer because they are not good at speaking English. They face challenges in life because of this. They face problems when seeking employment and their communication skills also become weak,” Kejriwal said at a press conference.
He added: “We don’t want our children to lag behind those who have access to certain facilities. For children who are weak in English and who have poor communication skills, the Delhi government is starting a Spoken English course. It will be offered by the Delhi Skill & Entrepreneurship University.”
Those who have completed their Class 12, and who have basic knowledge of English — meaning they’ve studied English till at least class 8 — will be eligible for the course.
“In the next one year, during Phase One, we will train one lakh students at 50 centres. this will be expanded subsequently. It’s an international standard course for which we have tied up with Macmillan and Wordsworth, and Cambridge University will be in-charge of assessment,” Kejriwal informed.
“Youth in the age group of 18-35 are eligible for admission, and the course will be for around 3-4 months, with 120-140 hours of study,” he said.
Kejriwal said that since many of those who enrol will probably be working or enrolled in part time courses, there will also be provision for evening and weekend courses.
“Although the it’s a free course, at the beginning, Rs 950 will be charged as security deposit because we don’t want people to enrol and then not take the course seriously. As I said, there will be only one lakh students and there will be many who want to learn English. So, we anticipate that there will be a huge demand for the course. We don’t want somebody to enrol for two days and then disappear, thereby wasting a seat. If you complete the course and have the required attendance, the money will be returned,” he said.
Speaking about the vision, the Chief Minister said: “Our dream is that all children — whether rich or poor — should get the best quality of education. The poor, lower middle class and middle class should not suffer due to lack of access to facilities. This is being done with the aim to bridge this gap. I hope this course will benefit our youth, both in terms of seeking jobs and personality development.”
