Multilingual Education and India

Good to see that the Rajasthan government is taking concrete steps to bring the local languages into the classroom. It is particularly encouraging to note that this initiative is not only focusing on the language, but also including the culture and folklore. Still, the initiative is not fully in line with the National Education Policy and the common pedagogical consensus that the local language should be the language of instruction as the medium of instruction will remain Hindi. Nevertheless it is clearly a step in the right direction! According to news reports, the Rajasthan State Council of Educational Research and Training (RSCERT) has identified 18 dialects that will be integrated into classroom teaching for classes I to V in state schools in the 2024-25 academic year. The main aim is to reduce the gap between the home and school environments for students.( Education Times / Times of India ) Before this initiative a language mapping survey by RSCERT showed that 20% of teachers wer...

Producing materials in unofficial local languages can be quite challenging for a government. It is therefore worth noting that recently the education minister of India announced the release of 52 primers in non-scheduled languages. These primers can all be viewed online . We all know that producing materials is one thing, getting them distributed and used in the classrooms is another. But it is good that concrete steps are taken towards the need for encouraging the use of local languages in the classrooms, particularly in the early grades. Recently, the Union Education Minister of India, Dharmendra Pradhan launched and announced 52 textbooks/primers  in non-scheduled languages for early childhood care and education. The primers have been prepared by NCERT and Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru.  By non-scheduled languages we mean languages that are not included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and therefore include smaller languages . The  prim...