Mother tongue needs promotion
Vijay Garg
More than a year ago, on July 29, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved a new education policy. Though education is a subject that is difficult to change overnight. However, if the enforcement authorities are willing, the change is not too difficult.
The new education policy has laid the foundation stone for many changes in the last twelve months. This wind of change will transform the thinking envisioned in the coming days in the National Education Policy. The importance of Indian languages has been recognized in the National Education Policy 2020.
The lack of mother tongues was deeply felt not only in the level of Indian education and thinking, but also in understanding the potential of the language, an exercise was started to impart a new way of thinking. Indian languages lagged behind due to lose education system. The idea of educators in the Indian education system was also rejected, according to which a child can learn better through his mother tongue.
In the role of the language department of the 1991 census, it was also stated- ‘Language is the blood of the soul, in which ideas flow and flourish.’ Despite this, far from making Indian languages a medium of higher education, it was also deliberately kept away from primary education.
The new education policy has changed this practice. It not only emphasized on making mother tongue the medium of instruction for adolescents, but also paved the way for the promotion of technical education in mother tongues. In the past, the idea of providing technical education in mother tongues was strongly opposed. It was said that the medium of technology could only be English.
While in countries like Germany and Japan, established as technical and economic superpowers, studies and research are done in their own languages. Under the new education policy, it is now planned to start teaching engineering in India in other Indian languages including Hindi. On July 17, All India Technical Education (AICTE) approved the teaching of engineering in 11 Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam. It has been decided to conduct National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Joint Entrance Test for Medical Admission, in 13 Indian languages.
Due to the study of English medium of medicine and engineering, the stress of children coming after studying in Indian languages increased. The passout was made fun of. In desperation, some children even ended their lives. As per the framework laid down by the new education policy for making Indian languages the medium of higher education, the progress of AICTE and the Medical Council of India is not insignificant.
For the first time in education policy, emphasis was placed not only on language, but also on education in education. In education, language is considered a means of acquiring values, broad perspectives and creative imagination. Many universities have started creating separate departments for translation for linguistic expansion of courses. Also, many universities may not have started teaching in their mother tongues.
However, students are allowed to write the answer in two languages in the exam. The language in which the student is comfortable can write the answer in the same language in the exam. Similarly, many universities have developed a number of courses at their level that can be taught in two or more languages.
Bhopal-based Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University is probably the first university to start offering engineering studies through Hindi medium. The new education policy, along with the concept of Indianess, also emphasizes the Indian knowledge tradition. In this regard, courses have also been started.
The country’s largest open universities Indira Gandhi National Open University and Sayajirao University Baroda have taken steps in this direction. The study of Indian knowledge tradition has also started here. According to the new education policy, the efforts made in the last one year to create curricula, studies, etc. are not insignificant. Hopefully they will move on. However, there are also barriers to language learning. There have also been reports from institutions like NCERT where instead of trying to improve the quality of courses under the new education policy a lax strategy is being adopted. Some organizations, abusing their autonomous status, instead of implementing this policy, have devised a strategy that seems to work, but is not actually implemented.
Obviously, this barrier of bureaucracy and mentality will continue. But it is also true that if these are not controlled, the ideologies and powers established under other names are not confined to the education system, the full benefits of the new education policy cannot be reaped. Governments should pay attention to this.
(The author is a Retired Principal and an Educationist based at Malout in Punjab)
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