New Delhi: In a significant move especially for the students from weaker sections, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has allowed affiliated schools to use mother tongue as an optional medium of instruction from pre-primary stages to Class 12.
The decision has been taken in accordance with the provisions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that emphasizes the cognitive advantages of multilingualism for young learners, especially when they are exposed to multiple languages from a young age, with a focus on their mother tongue, the board said.
"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", CBSE said.
Following the order, CBSE-affiliated schools will now have the option to use Indian languages listed in Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution, including Urdu, as the medium of instruction from the foundational stage to the end of the secondary stage.
This also means that mother tongue can be used as an optional medium of instruction from pre-primary classes to Class XII, in addition to other existing options.
The decision comes months after the University Grants Commission in December 2022 allowed universities and colleges to teach students in their mother tongue.
In a notification released Friday, the CBSE said it acknowledges the challenges but has taken several important initiatives to tackle them.
"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", the CBSE said. "In view of above challenges, the Ministry of Education, Government of India has taken several measures to actualize education through Indian languages medium on ground. One of the major steps taken now is the direction by the Ministry of Education to NCERT for preparing new textbooks through 22 scheduled Indian languages. The NCERT has taken this serious task on highest priority so that textbooks in 22 scheduled languages can be made available to all students from next sessions", the CBSE said in its notification.
"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", the CBSE said.
"In view of above challenges, the Ministry of Education, Government of India has taken several measures to actualize education through Indian languages medium on ground. One of the major steps taken now is the direction by the Ministry of Education to NCERT for preparing new textbooks through 22 scheduled Indian languages. The NCERT has taken this serious task on highest priority so that textbooks in 22 scheduled languages can be made available to all students from next sessions", the CBSE said in its notification.
Following its decision to allow universities and colleges to teach students, especially enrolled in Undergraduate Courses, the University Grants Commission (UGC), under an initiative by the Union Ministry of Education, engaged with publishers to translate English textbooks to various Indian languages.
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