English Calling Bihar

People of the state know they have the brains but not the english-speaking skills. Private players have long filled the gap. Now the CM too lends a hand.

- Amitabh Srivastava

Simran Mishra, 17, cracked her Class 12 exams. Hailing from Bhagalpur district in Bihar, she is now pursuing a bachelor’s in business administration, BBA, at the Lalit Narayan Mishra Institute in Patna. Next, she hopes to do her MBA from a top institute and land a well-paying job at some top corporate house. The eldest of three sisters, she also wants to bankroll her sisters’ higher education. There is one hurdle, though. Simran has studied in Hindi medium throughout in school. “I cannot fulfil my dream unless I become fluent in English,” she says. “I need to learn English, and communicate seamlessly in the language.”

The shy but determined girl, therefore, went online in search of a spoken English coaching centre. And that’s how she came across the British Lingua Spoken English Institute, where she enrolled for the comprehensive English training course. It cost her about Rs 5,000, but one month of attending classes has already given her the confidence to watch English movies on hotstar, an app that allows live streaming of videos.

The Government Push

A large number of youth in Bihar considers not being able to speak fluent English a handicap and hurdle in the growth of their careers. It’s a need the state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar has realised. “Nothing needs to be said about the meritorious and hardworking youth of Bihar,” he said during his campaign for the recently-concluded assembly elections. “They are second to none in the world in terms of intellectual capacity. They only need some training to fine-tune their communication skills in English.” Promising to arrange for spoken English for every student in Bihar, he went on to add, “We will do everything to instil confidence in the youth of Bihar.”