Lok Sabha Question No. 2316 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: Education in Mother Tongue
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Malook Nagar, S. Jagathrakshakan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2316 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2022

## Education in Mother Tongue

†2316. SHRI MALOOK NAGAR:

## SHRI S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government agrees with the view that early education of children must be in their mother tongue;
- (b)  if  so,  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  implement  education  to  children  upto  Fifth class in mother tongue only;
- (c) if so, the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d)  the  languages  in  which  children  will  be  imparted  education  under  National  Education Policy; and
- (e) whether the States have been consulted in this regard and if so, the reaction of the State Governments thereto?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## ANSWER (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (d): Yes,  Sir.  Section  29 (f) of  Chapter  V  under  Right  to  Education  Act,  2009 clearly states that, ' medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child's mother tongue. '

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of the States/UTs.  As envisaged in para 4.11 of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade  8  and  beyond,  is  to  be  the  home  language/mother  tongue/local  language/regional language.  Thereafter,  the  home/local  language  shall  continue  to  be  taught  as  a  language wherever possible.

The NIPUN Bharat Mission of the Government of India through its Mission Implementation Guidelines  suggests  that  teaching  learning  process  and  development  of  teaching  learning material  should  be  done  in  mother  tongue.  Similarly,  Vidya  Pravesh-  a  three-month  playbased school preparation programme for Grade-I and NISHTHA FLN (Foundational literacy and Numeracy) have also re-emphasised the same.

As  per  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education  Plus  (UDISE+)  2020-21,  there are 28 languages in which teaching learning is going on in grades (1-5). The   languages are as follows:

Assamese,  Bengali,  Gujarati,  Hindi,  Kannada,  Konkani,  Malayalam,  Manipuri,  Marathi, Nepali,  Odia,  Punjabi,  Sanskrit,  Sindhi,  Tamil,  Telugu,  Urdu,  English,  Bodo,  Khasi,  Garo, Mizo, French, Hmar, Karbi, Santhali, Bhodi, Purgi.

(e): During the formulation of NEP 2020, a large number of consultations were held with different  stakeholders  including  State/UT  Governments,  Government  of  India  Ministries, Members  of  Parliament,  public  etc.  The  Draft  NEP  2019  was  uploaded  on  Ministry  of Education's  website  to  elicit  comments  and  suggestions  from  the  various  stakeholders. Further,  letters  were  written  to  the  States/UTs  Governments  and  Government  of  India Ministries inviting  their  views  and  comments  on  Draft  NEP  2019.  An Education Dialogue with  Hon'ble  MPs  of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Telangana,  Tamil  Nadu,  Puducherry,  Kerala, Karnataka & Odisha was organized in the month of July and August, 2019. Around 2 lakh suggestions on the Draft NEP were received from various stakeholders. A special meeting of CABE was organised in Sepetember, 2019 to discuss Draft NEP. 26 Education Ministers of various  States  and  UTs,  representatives  of  States  and  UTs,  Members  of  CABE,  Heads  of Autonomous  Organizations,  Vice  Chancellors  of  Universities,  attended  the  meeting  along with senior officials.  A  meeting  of  Parliamentary  Standing  Committee  was  held in November,  2019  to  discuss  the  Draft.  Accordingly,  based  on  all  feedback/commentts received, NEP 2020 was finalized and the same had been approved by the Union Cabinet on 29.07.2020.

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