Teachers say the programme is a hit with students

There is pin drop silence in a crammed classroom at a primary government school in the northern Indian state of Bihar.

The students are looking inquisitively at a radio set perched on a plastic chair in the middle of the classroom in the capital, Patna.

They are all waiting for a new English lesson to begin on the radio.

The lesson is called 'English is Fun' and teaches the basics of the language to primary school students.

"It is very easy to learn English on radio. Everyday we wait for this class. Even if the teacher is not in the class we learn and enjoy the programme," a student, Sakshi Kumari, said.

Interestingly, backward and dirt poor Bihar appears to be a trend setter here - a recent federal government report found that school students in the state are now faring better in English and Mathematics than anywhere else in the country.

This, in a state, where a lowly 47% of the people are literate as against the national average of nearly 65%.

So, for half-an-hour, four days a week, millions of primary students in Bihar today learn English through this radio lesson.

Ever since the programme began in November last year it has become an instant hit with the students.

The Bihar Education Project launched this English teaching radio programme in collaboration with a US-based organisation, the Education Development Center, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost primary education in the country.

'Big hit'
The year-long interactive radio lessons are being broadcast by the four regional state-run All India radio stations. The lessons cover seven million students attending 65,000 primary schools in all the 38 districts of the state.

"After 25 episodes of the programme, we found that it is a big hit among the students," director of the programme Rajesh Bhushan said.

The state government has given 1000 rupees ($25) to every primary school to purchase a radio set for the 122-episode English learning programme.

Starting with songs called 'Good morning' and 'Goodbye', the programme teaches alphabets and words.