Lok Sabha Question No. 107 (STARRED), answered on 2025-12-08
Subject: Mandatory use of Mother Tongue in Schools
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Jugal Kishore, Shri Mahendra Singh Solanky

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO - 107 ANSWERED ON - 08/12/2025

## Mandatory use of Mother Tongue in Schools

## *107.   Shri Mahendra Singh Solanky:

Shri Jugal Kishore:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the manner in which the Government is ensuring that rural, tribal, inaccessible hilly and remote forest areas in the country including Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and particularly Palghar District in Maharashtra receive adequate central support to integrate three years of pre-primary education into the new Foundational Stage; (b) the strategy adopted by the Government to make mandatory/compulsory use of the mother tongue/local/regional  languages  as  the  medium  of  instruction  till  Class-5  in  the  country particularly Maithili in Mithila region; (c)  the  manner  in  which  mandatory/compulsory  use  of  the  mother  tongue/local/regional language is likely to balance with the need for multi-lingual proficiency in the middle and secondary levels; (d)  whether the Government has finalised the mechanism for the new Board Examinations which are to be conducted twice a year; and (e) if so, the details of provisions made to reduce student stress while maintaining academic

- standards in the country particularly in Dewas-Shajapur, Lok Sabha Constituency in Madhya Pradesh?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (e) A statement is laid on the table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 107 ANSWERED ON 08.12.2025 ASKED BY HON'BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SHRI MAHENDRA SINGH SOLANKY AND SHRI JUGAL KISHORE REGARDING 'MANDATORY USE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN SCHOOLS'

- (a) In the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, for the first time, 3 years of pre-schools (Balvatika) is  recognized  as  a  continuum  of  education  in  the  5+3+3+4  structure  where  the foundational stage is 3 years of pre-school and grade 1 & grade 2. The Department of School Education (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education (MoE) through the schemes/programmes/initiatives  has  ensured  that  the  States  &  Union  Territories  (UTs), including Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra (including Palghar district) receive adequate central support to integrate three years of pre-primary education into the new Foundational Stage (FS). As envisaged in NEP 2020, to achieve universal foundational literacy  and  numeracy  (FLN) by  end of Grade  2, a national mission called NIPUN Bharat Mission has been launched.

NIPUN Bharat Mission :  A flagship national mission called 'National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)' was launched on 5 th July, 2021 for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains FLN by the end of  Grade  2.  This  Mission  has  been  set  up  under  the  aegis  of  the  Samagra  Shiksha.  All  36 States/Union Territories are implementing NIPUN-Bharat Mission (NBM). Financial norms for the following components are provided under the NBM:

-  Support to pre-school education/co-located anganwadi centers (recurring & nonrecurring)
-  Teaching Learning Materials for implementation of Innovative pedagogies
-  Teacher Resource Material/Activity Handbook
-  Capacity building of Teachers of Grades I & II
-  Independent, periodic and holistic assessment of students
-  Formation of Project Management Unit (PMU) at state and district level

In  order  to  integrate  the  pre-school  (Balvatika)  in  the  foundational  stage,  following progress has been made:

-  NCF-FS :  National  Curricular  Framework  for  Foundational  Stage  (NCF-FS)  was released  on  20 th October,  2022  providing  a  structure  for  the  syllabus,  training  of teachers,  Learning  Teaching  Material  (LTM),  etc.  It  is  the  first  ever  integrated curriculum framework for children between ages 3-8 in India.
-  Vidya Pravesh : A 3 months play based 'School Preparation Module and Guidelines' for Grade I named 'Vidya Pravesh' was launched on 29 th July, 2021. The goal of Vidya Pravesh  programme  is  to  promote  school  preparedness  in  all  children  coming  to Grade- I from diverse backgrounds (Balvatika, Anganwadi Centers (AWCs), at home, private play schools etc.), to ensure a smooth transition of children to Grade-I. This programme  is  implemented  across  the  country  including  Jammu  and  Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. The number of beneficiary students from the Vidya Pravesh module is tabulated below:
-  Co-location of Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) : As envisaged in NEP 2020, one of the models to ensure universal access to high quality Early Childhood Care & Education consists  of  Anganwadis  co-located  schools  having  Grade  1.  In  this  regard,  the DoSE&L, Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Women & Child Development has launched the 'Guidelines for  Co-location of Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) with Schools' on 3 rd  September, 2025. As per UDISE+ 2024-25, there are 2,99,546 co-located AWCs in schools having Grade-I. State-wise details are available at blob:https://udiseplus.gov.in/709af9f3-e9b0-47c0-ab8f-5345bed073ce (Table 3.7).
-  The students of Balvatika are also included under PM-POSHAN.
- (b) & (c) Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India and majority of the schools are under the domain of the State Government & UT administration. As per para 4.13 of the NEP 2020, 'The three-language formula will continue to be implemented while keeping  in  mind  the  Constitutional  provisions,  aspirations  of  the  people,  regions,  and  the Union, and the need to promote multilingualism as well as promote national unity. However, there  will  be  a  greater  flexibility  in  the  three-language  formula,  and  no  language  will  be imposed on any State. The three languages learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and of course the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are  native  to  India.  In  particular,  students  who  wish  to  change  one  or  more  of  the  three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or 7, as long as they are able to demonstrate basic proficiency in three languages (including one language of India at the literature level) by the end of secondary school.'

| State                   | Students benefitted   | Students benefitted   | Students benefitted   |
|-------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|                         | 2022-23               | 2023-24               | 2024-25               |
| Jammu and Kashmir       | 1,34,249              | 1,30,640              | 1,19,160              |
| Jharkhand               | 13,00,000             | 5,52,263              | 5,70,745              |
| Chhattisgarh            | 2,59,165              | 3,19,918              | 2,98,632              |
| Maharashtra             | 13,84,131             | 11,03,339             | 10,78,720             |
| India (all States &UTs) | 1,80,13,930           | 1,13,60,923           | 1,29,06,518           |

The policy of the Government is to promote all Indian languages. The NEP, 2020 lays a  lot  of  stress  on  promoting  multilingualism  and  making  efforts  to  keep  Indian  languages vibrant. The NEP 2020 mentions that wherever possible the medium of instruction up to at least class 5 and preferably up to class 8 will be in the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional  language.  The  policy  emphasize  that  teaching  should  be  in  their  home language/local  language/regional  language  and  learning  of  Indian  languages  should  be integrated with school education so that students have the option of studying in any Indian language.  As  a  follow-up  of  NEP,  2020,  the  National  Curriculum  Framework  for  School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 was launched in July 2023 and the following initiatives have been taken in the area of school education to promote Indian languages:

- (i) NCERT has developed and published textbooks in 22 scheduled languages including Maithili language for Grades 1 to 3 and 6. The textbooks are available at NCERT's website https://ncert.nic.in .
- (ii) The Jaadui Pitara (JP), a set of 53 play-based learning-teaching materials for ages 3-8 was launched on 20 th February 2023. Available in 22 Indian languages (including Maithili) and English, JP includes toys, puzzles, story cards, flashcards, and teacher handbooks. Its digital extension,  the  e-Jaadui  Pitara,  launched  on  10 th February  2024,  offers  multilingual  stories, activities, songs in 22 Indian languages (including Maithili), and AI-based bots-Katha Sakhi, Teacher Tara, and Parent Tara-to support children, teachers, and parents. As envisaged in NEP 2020, these initiatives are an integral part of the foundational stage.
- (iii) Primers  (launched  in  March,  2024)  have  been  developed  in  121  local  languages (including  Maithili)  for  FLN  in  mother  tongues  spoken  by  populations  of  at  least  10,000. Primers are available at https://ncert.nic.in/primers.php?ln=en.
- (iv) The Ministry of Education initiated a nationwide programme to promote all Indian languages through the programme of Bhasha Sangam. Children in school learn 100 sentences in  the  22  scheduled  languages  (including  Maithili)  with  audio  and  video  support.  Schools across the country are participating and learning the Indian languages. Both textual and audiovideo materials are available on DIKSHA portal at https://ncert.nic.in/bs-2021.php.
- (v) The  Rashtriya  e-Pustakalaya  provides  quality  books  to  children  and  adolescents, ensuring accessibility across diverse geographies, languages, genres, and educational levels.

The  platform  offers  5,000+  non-academic  books  in  23  languages  making  a  wide  range  of resources available to users.

- (vi) The PM e-Vidya initiative has expanded to 200 DTH TV channels with vision of 'One Nation, One Digital Platform', delivering curriculum-aligned content in various 128 Indian languages and 7 foreign languages, enhancing reach and inclusivity of rural area.
- (vii)  Central  Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has prescribed using child's home language, mother tongue or a familiar regional language including Maithili, as a medium of instruction at the foundational stage and also at the preparatory stage. The notification dated 22.05.2025 is available at https://cbseacademic.nic.in/web\_material/Circulars/2025/30\_Circular\_2025.pdf
- (d) & (e) CBSE  has  notified  two  Board  Examinations  in  Class  X  from  2026  and  its mechanism vide its notification dated 25.06.2025. The notification is available at https://www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/documents/Notification\_Two\_Board\_Examinations\_Class \_X\_2026\_25062025.pdf. The main responsibility of CBSE is to register candidates in Classes IX and XI and to conduct the annual Class X and XII examinations for its affiliated schools. In addition, CBSE undertakes reforms in examination and evaluation practices to equip students to  meet  present  and  future  challenges.  The  recent  reforms,  including  conducting  board examinations twice a year, are aligned with the NEP 2020, which aims to reduce high-stakes exam pressure and promote flexibility and competency-based learning over rote memorization.

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