Mother Tongue Education Gets Boost Under National Education Policy 2020

The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 emphasizes the importance of mother tongue-based education for children, particularly at the primary stage. The NEP is being implemented through various initiatives by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). NCERT has developed new textbooks and teaching materials in multiple languages to support this policy.

Source

PIB →

Quick Revision

Prelims-testable facts

01Article 350 A of the Indian Constitution states that it is the endeavour of every State and local authority to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education.
02The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, recommends that the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language.
03Section 29(2)(f) of the Right to Education Act, 2009, provides that 'medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child's mother tongue'.
04The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), 2023, in line with the vision and recommendations of the NEP.
05NCERT has translated textbooks for Grades 1, 2, 3, and 6 into all 22 Scheduled Languages, and these have been made digitally available.
06Of the 460 textbooks for Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8, a total of 368 have already been translated and made available digitally.

Trap alerts

Most people think that mother-tongue-based education is only for linguistic minority groups, but actually it is recommended for all children to learn in their home language/mother tongue.
Most people think that the medium of instruction should be English, but actually the NEP recommends using the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language as the medium of instruction.

Prelims Practice MCQs

Single facteasy

How many textbooks for Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 have been translated into all 22 Scheduled Languages by NCERT?

A.368
B.460
C.672
D.920

NCERT has translated 368 textbooks for Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 into all 22 Scheduled Languages.

Multiple statementsmedium

Consider the following statements regarding Mother Tongue-based Education in India: 1. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has translated textbooks into all 22 Scheduled Languages. 2. Article 350 A of the Indian Constitution ensures that children belonging to linguistic minority groups receive education in their mother tongue. 3. The Right to Education Act, 2009 mandates that 90% of primary school students learn in their mother tongue. How many of the above statements are correct?

A.Only one
B.Only two
C.All three
D.None

Statement 1 is correct because NCERT has translated textbooks into all 22 Scheduled Languages (fact 5). Statement 2 is correct as per Article 350 A of the Indian Constitution (fact 2). Statement 3 is incorrect as it contradicts fact 3 which states that 'medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child's mother tongue'.

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