: The English language skills of students from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are far below of those from neighbouring States like Tamil Nadu or Kerala who fare much better in the English skill tests.
The demographic data released by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) indicated that students with Telugu as mother-tongue have fared badly in comparison to Malayalam and Tamil speaking students. The data pertaining to 2015 IELTS takers showed that only 12 percent of Telugu students could figure in the 6.5 band score, considered to be good, while in the same bracket 24 per cent of Malayalam students and 20 percent of Tamil students figured. Hindi-speaking students with 17 percent and Bengalis (16 percent) also are above Telugus. Gujarati students with 12 percent are on a par with Telugus while only Punjabi students with 10 percent in the 6.5 score band are below the Telugus.
That the English skills, whether reading, writing, listening or speaking, of Telugus are pretty average reflects in the massive number figuring in the average score band of 5.5 to 6. About 55 percent of Telugus are in this particular band while just one percent of Telugu IELTS takers are in 8 score band, which is considered pretty good. The IELTS is one of the world’s most popular English language proficiency tests for higher education and global migration with over two million tests taken during the last year. It assesses reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, and is designed to reflect how students or migrants use English at study or at work abroad. In fact, IELTS scores also determine the quality of the college one gets into. Explaining the reason for poor performance of Telugu students, V. Ram, consultant at a popular education consultancy in the city, says it reflects the quality of English taught at schools. “Our focus is only on Maths and Science and languages are hardly given importance both by the schools and the parents,” he says.
Such poor score bands deny entry into a good institution abroad as well. Language skills are not important just at the entry level but throughout the career. Majority of our students end up as middle-level employees due to this factor despite the good core skills, says Nishidhar Borra of Storm that guides students for foreign education. Performance of overall Indian students too is not encouraging with 45 percent of them figuring in the average band of 5.5 to 6. The only other country with higher percentage of candidates in the same band is China. Only 14 per cent of Indian students are in the 7 to 7.5 score band, considered good while just 2 per cent are in the 8 score band, which is a good score under any circumstances.
