Students stick to basics, only 5 of 13 lakh opt for English Literature

While nearly 9,65 lakh out of 12.41 lakh students who appeared for HSC English paper failed, its counterpart English Literature had a 100% pass percentage. But that is because only five students took the subject.

Introduced by Mumbai University two years ago, English Literature is a specialised course which is more advanced than regular English. Though the subject is quite popular in the rest of the country, very few city students seem to have a shine for it.

According to Dr Coomi Shahrukh Vevena, head of English department of the university, very few colleges in the city offer this subject and so students do not have a wide choice.  "Colleges are afraid to offer English Literature as they feel there is no demand for it.  Students also prefer to study regular English which is scoring-friendly," said Vevena.

Colleges cite lack of qualified staff and demand in starting this course. Principal of Bhavan's College in Andheri (West), Vasanti Katchi, said, "English Literature is not very popular as students are also not very keen on studying literature at the HSC level."

But some students feel the existing English syllabus should be upgraded. Janan Ravi, one of the city top scorers in science, feels: "More literature should be introduced to make the subject more interesting."