NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that education from pre-school upto advanced research studies must be in Indian languages. The National Education Policy 2020 has recommended that the country will progress better if education is imparted in Indian languages, he stated on Tuesday.
Pradhan was speaking after launching 55 literary works in the five classical languages of Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. Among them were 41 books developed by the Centres of Excellence for Classical Languages under the Central Institute of Indian Languages and the Sign Language series on the revered Tamil literary piece, Tirukkural, brought out by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil.
“Efforts are underway by the government to prioritise classical languages,” he said. Five more languages were categorised last year as Indian classical languages - Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. “India's languages connect society. There are thousands of languages in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi states that all Indian languages are national languages,” he added.
Indian languages have stood the test of time despite the attempts to destroy them, the Minister said.“They serve as a unifying force in the country,” he added.
Elaborating on steps taken by the Ministry to promote Indian languages, Pradhan said that a Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti was constituted by the Centre since the goal of 2047 Viksit Bharat is to further enhance the importance of Indian languages. An initiative is underway to provide education up to class 5 in the mother tongue.
Pradhan later told the media, “Engineering and Medical courses have been designed in Indian languages. Indian language-based legal language is being drafted for the courts in India. PM Modi has said that we have to change the Macaulay mindset. The most impactful instrument to change Macaulay mindset is through Indian languages.”
“The inclusion of the essence (interpretation) of the Tirukkural in Sign Language empowers the vision of an inclusive India, where access to knowledge is ensured for all,“ he said. This specific book is a valuable contribution to India’s intellectual literature, he added.
On Monday, Pradhan had released an Urdu compilation of Independence Day addresses delivered by PM Modi between 2014 and 2025. Khutbat-e-Modi: Lal Qila Ki Faseel Se was released by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, a national institution under the Education Ministry mandated to preserve and propagate the Urdu language across the country, said an official release from the Ministry.
