Lok Sabha Question No. 1768 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-13
Subject: Education in Mother Tongue up to Class Fifth
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Achyutananda Samanta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1768 ANSWERED ON 13.02.2023

## Education in Mother Tongue up to Class Fifth

## 1768 SHRI ACHYUTANANDA SAMANTA :

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government under the New Education Policy proposes to provide education to children up to class fifth in their mother tongue;
- (b)  if  so,  the  efforts  made  in  this  direction  and  the  details  of  the  languages  proposed  in  this regard;
- (c) whether the States has been consulted in this regard; and
- (d) the response of the States thereto?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION ( DR. SUBHAS SARKAR )

(a)  to  (d):        The  National  Education  Policy  (NEP),  2020,  inter-alia,  provides  that  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.  Further,  the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers for Holistic Advancement - NISHTHA 3.0 has been launched to train the teachers from Early Childhood care and Education (ECCE) upto grade V. It has 12 training modules including a module on Multilingual teaching in foundational years, which also covers usage of mother tongue / home language in teaching.

During  the  formulation  of  National  Education  Policy  (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. Before finalizing the policy, a highly participative, inclusive and  multi-pronged  consultation  process, through  online, grassroots and thematic expert consultations, involving State Governments was carried out. After receipt  of  the  Draft  National  Education  Policy  2019  (Draft  NEP  2019)  from  the  Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. K Kasturirangan, the Draft NEP 2019 was uploaded on Ministry of Education's website at https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/NEP\_Final\_English\_0.pdf and also at https://innovate.mygov.in/list-nep/ to elicit comments  and suggestions from the various stakeholders. Further, letters were written to States/UTs Governments and Government of India Ministries  inviting  their  views  and  comments  on  DNEP  2019.  An  Education  Dialogue  with Hon'ble  MPs  of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Telangana,  Tamil  Nadu,  Puducherry,  Kerala,  Karnataka  & Odisha was organized on three consecutive days i.e on 31.07.2019, 01.08.2019 & 02.08.2019. Two meetings, one with State Education Secretaries of School Education and another with State Secretaries  of  Higher  &  Technical  Education  were  held  on  09.07.2019  and  08.08.2019 respectively. Around 2 lakh suggestions on the Draft National Education Policy were received from various stakeholders. A special meeting of CABE on National Education Policy was held on  21.09.2019,  to  discuss  the  National  Education  Policy.  26  Education  Ministers  of  various States and UTs, representatives of States and Union Territories, Members of CABE, Heads of Autonomous Organizations, Vice Chancellors of Universities, attended the meeting along with senior  officials  of  the  Central  and  State  Governments.  A  meeting  of  Parliamentary  Standing Committee was held on 7th November, 2019 to discuss the Draft National Education Policy. As per the procedure, inter-ministerial consultation on the draft Cabinet Note on National Education Policy  2020  was  done.  There  has  been  wide  publicity  and  feedback  from  all  stakeholders. Accordingly, based on all feedback/comments received from various stakeholders on the Draft NEP, the Ministry finalized the National Education Policy, 2020 and the same has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 29.07.2020.

As a follow up of the NEP-2020, the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational stage  has  been  released  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  on  20 th October,  2022.  This  Framework clearly states that since children learn concepts most rapidly and deeply in their home language, the  primary  medium  of  information  would  optimally  be  the  child's  home  language/mothertongue/familiar language.

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