I want to speak to the President. In English

As part of a pilot project in rural Bihar,girls learn spoken English after class....

I am Renu. I study in Class VIII. My father is a farmer. I dream of becoming a teacher. Renu Kumari,in her crinkly sky blue uniform and hair tied in plaits,is refreshingly audacious about her dreams. Some day,I want to speak 10 lines to the President of India about my state Bihar. In English, says the 14-year-old.

The girls of Talibpur Middle School at Barh,80 km from Patna,share Renus dreamsits something they acquired ever since they began learning spoken English at their school.

The nodal middle school arranges special two-hour English classes for girl students of Class VIII on Fridays and Saturdays. The English speaking class is held between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.,after the regular classes. Apart from the children of Barh,those from two neighbouring middle schools,at Gulab Bagh and Nawada,also come here for the classes.

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The four-month course,due to be completed by this month-end,is part of a pilot project started by the Bihar Education Project Council to help rural girls in Patna district speak English. BEPC special project director Rajesh Bhushan says since the project is popular and effective,the state government may extend the programme.

Of the 72 girls who have enrolled for the special class,45 have turned up today. While Renu is from Barh,Swati,Gayatri,Khusbhu,Rekha and Jyoti travel four km from their school to attend the class. Their teacher Yogendra Kumar accompanies them.

English trainer Chandramouli Prasad,22,is a history graduate and was appointed by BEPC on an ad hoc basis. Prasad says that since most children in government schools learn English only from Class VI,its a language that remains alien to them. According to the 2009 Annual Survey and Evaluation Report for Bihar,only 31.3 per cent of children in class V can read easy sentences in English.

The pilot project,says Prasad,is popular among students because it only involves the spoken word. I also teach them rules of tense so that they can frame basic sentences, he says.

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The girls are given a 20-page booklet that has a list of 10 introductory questions and answers. Then there are lessons on habits,questions to ask at railway stations,bus stands or at hotels. The final two chapters are on how to write letters and speak a few sentences on common topics such as My Family,Durga Puja or My Hobbies.

Anita,the daughter of a farmer in Barh,has never travelled out of Barh. But she says she is learning English in the hope that when she eventually does,her English will come in handy. If I travel to south India,I should be able to communicate with people there, she says.