Languages are the lens through which we look at the world and navigate our lives. Without them, it is impossible for a child to cross the river of education. And with the increasing porosity of borders—both within nations and beyond— global citizenship is not just a distant vision, but a reality. It may not be possible to make good of it without multilingualism.
The National Education Policy 2020 made a bold and futuristic statement when it provided for multilingual education through a variety of interventions. They include learning in Indian languages from K12 to PhD, learning more than one language in school, bilingual textbooks, setting up a National Institute of Translation and Interpretation, having departments of translation and interpretation in higher education, promotion of classical languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, and the use of technology for learning and translating.
The NEP’s provisions for language study in schools are further detailed in the National Curriculum Framework 2023 (NCF), which gives a roadmap for implementation. Note that the NCF uses the short forms R1, R2 and R3 to indicate the hierarchy of language learning.
At the foundational stage (three years of pre-school and grades 1-2), only one language, R1 or the language used as the medium of instruction, is to be taught. This language is the choice of the state, but preferably should be the language the child is most familiar with. The child is learning to read at this stage, to be able to read to learn by the preparatory stage. In the preparatory stage (grades 3-5), a second language is introduced—R2, which can be any other language including English. Most schools in most states and Union territories are already following this.
Global research has established the need for learning more than two languages. Mariana Vega-Mendoza, in a co-authored 2015 study, showed that “trilingual children showed superior performance in certain cognitive tasks compared to both monolingual and bilingual children”. A 2009 study by C Bloch and others documented “distinct neural adaptations in multilingual individuals learning three or more languages”. Jasmine Won’s 2022 research suggested “a correlation between the acquisition of multiple languages and high social-emotional and cognitive engagement in the classroom”.
It is at the middle stage (grades 6-8) that the NEP and NCF introduce three languages, where R1 and R3 have to be languages native to India. R2 can be either an Indian language or any other. It is pertinent to note that the NEP provides for the three languages learned by children to be “the choices of states, regions, and of the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India”.
UDISE+ 2023-24 data shows that except Punjab, where only three languages are taught, all states offer four or more languages in their schools, though all are not necessarily taught in the same school. For example, 16 different languages are taught in schools of Delhi, 11 in Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Meghalaya, and 10 each in Telangana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. With such diversity, introducing three languages at the middle stage can be undertaken in a systematic manner without requiring drastic changes.
The secondary stage is divided into two, grades 9-10 and 11-12. R1, R2 and R3 are to be taught in grades 9-10, and only two languages, R1 and R2, in grades 11-12. We need to understand the neuroscience behind this.
Though learning occurs all through life, the human brain creates neural pathways only as a response to certain types of inputs, language learning being one of the most significant. There are certain windows of opportunity during a human life when the brain exhibits highest ability to form these networks. The age cohort of 0-6 years represents the phase of the highest plasticity. That is why the foundational period is tapped to learn the language closest to the child. During 11-16 years, there is another significant growth spurt of brain networks, when the better-used pathways are strengthened and the unused ones pruned. Therefore, language-related pathways are used extensively in this period for better retention. That’s why learning three languages at grades 6-10 makes a lot of sense.
The languages are entirely the choice of the state, and if the state permits, of the child too. The basket of choices is not limited to the languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The National Institute of Open Schooling took a huge step forward by adding the Indian Sign Language as a subject.
Learning a number of languages at the appropriate stage is the best means of cognitive growth of a child. The NEP’s language policy is not just about education. It’s a vision for a culturally and cognitively enriched and globally competent India.
(Views are personal)
Anita Karwal
Former Secretary, School Education, GoI