New Delhi: High-level discussions are underway at the Centre to tweak the New Education Policy to offer higher education courses in 22 regional languages – a debatable move as most disciplines, especially technical courses, rely heavily on the English language.
Having burnt its fingers with the draft on the new education policy in 2019 over the language question and the ‘imposition of Hindi’, the Centre is now preparing to go the extra mile to show its commitment to promote regional languages.
Simultaneously, the recommendations of the draft policy, especially with regard to expanding access to school education for pre-primary levels and the Right to Education Act commitments, are being re-assessed as these entail huge financial requirements.
The final policy, which has been reworked, states that while the three-language formula will continue to be implemented, ‘great flexibility’ will be given to states. However, the Centre is looking at going a step further in higher education. Currently, the bulk of higher education and almost all professional courses are conducted in English.
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It is proposed that the policy include clauses which state that, wherever possible, the medium of instruction in higher education should be in the mother tongue and steps should be taken – by the centre, states and union territories to incentivise and fund the opening of new higher education institutes which has the medium of instruction in the mother tongue.
While the current draft of the policy does mention that more higher education and degree programmes should make use of Indian languages or be bilingual, the Centre is looking at recommending it in a strong way, ET has gathered.
It is felt that many students drop out of the higher education system in India due to the emphasis on the English language which puts students from regional language mediums at a disadvantage.
As a result, schools in various states have started switching from the regional languages to English as their medium of instruction. This will also put the longevity of regional languages at risk, it is argued.
The new education policy has been undergoing several rounds of vetting and is expected to be placed before Cabinet by next month.
The policy draft had sparked a controversy in June 2019 over its emphasis on the three-language formula, the suggestion to teach Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states and claims of ‘over-centralisation’ through bodies like the Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog.
Source: ET
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