Multilingual Education and India

The push for the use of local languages in the National Education Policy is not only triggering good discussions among educationalists but also creating an interest in the production of more books in other languages than just English and Hindi. One could also argue that it is the other way around and that the increased interest in the society for local languages has influenced the National Education Policy, but the point is that overall more space is created for languages in the debates in the marketplace!  Discussions around the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and developments in Indian publishing point to growing interest in strengthening mother-tongue based learning. One perspective comes from Anju Wal’s article on multilingual classrooms and the challenges of implementing NEP 2020, while another comes from the strong presence of Indian language publishing at the World Book Fair 2026. Together, these examples show how policy responses and cultural platforms can support and ...

Happy International Mother Language Day 2026! There is lots to celebrate on this day, as many good things are happening. Yes, we realize that there are many challenges too, but on a day like this, let's look at some of the things that are happening in the different states and organizations! On the occasion of International Mother Language Day 2026, it is worth pausing to look at what is actually unfolding in India around multilingual education (MLE). This year’s theme from UNESCO, “Youth voices on multilingual education,” resonates strongly with ongoing conversations and developments in India shaped by NEP 2020 (National Education Policy) and the National Curriculum Framework. At the same time, recent evidence provides both encouragement and caution. UNESCO’s State of the Education Report for India 2025 (SOER) underscores that Mother Tongue–Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is foundational for inclusion and improved learning outcomes. However, the Teaching Learning Practices S...

Having many languages in one classroom can be enriching but also challenging, especially because every classroom situation is different. A teaching typology can help bring clarity by identifying common language situations and linking them to suitable teaching strategies. This work is meant to start a conversation, and feedback from teachers, teacher trainers, and policymakers is warmly welcomed on how it can be improved. In the Linkedin article “An MLE Typology that Fits the New Narrative,”   we state that today’s classrooms can no longer be understood through a simple “one home language → one school language” model; instead, we must recognise that there are many contexts where students speak multiple different languages and where no single shared language exists between teacher and learners. A classroom typology can help to identify the relevant difference in classroom situations: © 2026 Karsten van Riezen This framework helps make sense of what we see in India’s recent Teaching ...

Large-scale grassroots observations are rarely done and are a treasure for checking assumptions and developing teaching strategies. The Teaching Learning Practices Survey conducted by the Language and Learning Foundation has a special focus on language. This makes it very  relevant for the study of Multilingual Education. In this blog, we pick out the “jewels” in the treasure related to language. India’s classrooms are linguistically diverse. Children often come to school speaking a home language that is different from the school language. The Teaching Learning Practices Survey (TLPS) 2025 clearly shows this diversity by observing real classrooms across nine states. Instead of relying only on tests or reports, the survey went inside 1,050 classrooms to see how teaching and learning actually happen. This makes the findings especially important for people working on mother tongue–based multilingual education (MLE). The survey finds that 73% of teachers know the children’s home langua...

Language technology is getting a lot of attention these days but usually the focus is on the dominant languages.   I was pleasantly surprised that in a recent workshop organised by IIIT-Hyderabad, also the underserved languages were in focus. This is of course of interest for the multilingual education efforts in India as there is a significant shortage of support to create materials and tools for children that speak minority languages. IIIT-Hyderabad recently hosted a multi-day workshop focused on low-resource Indian languages, as noted by Prof. Sandeep K. Shukla . The institute organised Bahu Bhasa 2025 (6–8 Nov 2025), a major event that brought together technologists, linguists, community leaders and policy stakeholders to reimagine the future of Indian languages in the digital age ( Deccan Chronicle ). This mix of research and public dialogue connects language-technology efforts (Natural Language Processing – NLP, speech, language resources) to India’s broader educational goal...

It was inspiring to listen to Dr Subir Shukla at the Lead India webinar recently. Subir challenged us that we tend to spend far too much energy and time on the 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 dimensions of  multilingual education: developing textbooks, solving orthography issues, creating certificates, etc. We should spend more energy on the 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 dimensions: using the languages of the children to connect with the children, to draw them out, to let them engage. That makes more difference in the learning results than getting the curriculum in the "right" languages. If that is the case, we might need to change the narrative around what MLE is about . Let us explore what Subhir had to say! At the September 2025 LEAD Community of Practice meeting, Dr. Subir Shukla challenged a persistent misconception about Multilingual Education (MLE): that MLE is seen as a project but should be more than a project or program — a part of the education system as a whole. While acknowledging the t...