GUWAHATI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has ordered its affiliated schools to consider using multilingual education and using mother tongues as the medium of instruction from the foundational stage until the end of the secondary stage, from pre-primary classes until class XII. Regarding this, the board has informed all the heads of the schools affiliated with the CBSE. This has been initiated according to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The board stated in its order that “Multilingual education has been widely recognized as a valuable approach to fostering linguistic diversity, cultural understanding, and academic success among students. The National Education Policy 2020 emphasizes the significant cognitive advantages of multilingualism for young learners, particularly when they are exposed to multiple languages from the foundational stage, with a specific focus on their mother tongue. The policy strongly advocates for utilizing the home language, mother tongue, local language, or regional language as the medium of instruction whenever feasible, at least until Grade 5, but preferably extending till Grade 8 and beyond. The implementation of multilingual education and the utilization of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction present several challenges, including the availability of skilled teachers capable of teaching in multilingual settings, the creation of high-quality multilingual textbooks, and the limited time available, especially in two-shift government schools, as multilingual education demands additional instructional time allocation.”
Further, the order stated, “One of the major steps taken now is the direction given by the Ministry of Education to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for preparing new textbooks in 22 scheduled Indian languages. The NCERT has given this serious task the highest priority so that textbooks in the 22 scheduled languages can be made available to all students in the next session. Higher Education has also started gearing up to produce textbooks in Indian languages, initiate learning and teaching processes through Indian language mediums in addition to English, and conduct examinations in Indian languages as well. The textbooks in technical education, medical education, vocational education, skill education, law education, etc., are now coming through Indian languages.”
“Since higher education has started responding to this need, then school education has to become its foundation. The approach towards medium of instruction should be a continuity from school education to higher education. Therefore, the schools affiliated with CBSE need to play a vital role in this great endeavour by offering education in Indian languages.
With the initiatives taken to facilitate education through Indian languages, the CBSE-affiliated schools may consider using Indian languages, as enumerated in Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution, as the medium of Instruction from the foundational stage till the end of the secondary stage, that is, from pre-primary classes until class XII, as an optional medium in addition to other existing options. Schools may explore the available resources, consult with experts in the field, and collaborate with other schools to share best practises to make multilingual education in CBSE schools a reality,” it added.
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