ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

As per the mandate of the National Policy on Education (1968), English is compulsory in all the schools of India. Yet, it is widely seen that the standard of English among the students passing out from schools remains much below than the accepted level. There have been widespread reports on the decline in the standard of English among the school students of Andhra Pradesh and also on the difference in the proficiency level of government and private school students. Keeping in view such reports regarding lack of adequate English knowledge among students, this study was undertaken to generate evidence on the disparities present in the proficiency level of government and private school students. Using a customized English language test, the study investigates the expertise of students in three schools of Andhra Pradesh. The results show that there exists a huge gap between the English proficiency level of private English medium schools and government aided regional medium schools. The study also recommends some probable solutions to enhance the knowledge of English language of the government school students.