As another International Mother Language Day passed us by earlier this month, it is highly pertinent that we discuss and debate about preserving and promoting mother languages in India. The use of English in classrooms is allied to dominance, power and status, resulting in ignorance of the mother tongue and a feeling of disassociation among students. A threefold focussed transitional strategy is needed for promoting the use of the mother language in higher education. The progression will not only lead to the rejuvenation and preservation of mother languages but also lead to an increase in enrolment in higher education.
“We have to educate people (Indians) who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue… English is worth knowing more than Sanskrit or Arabic,” said Thomas Macaulay in his minute criticising the Charter of 1813. Where on the one hand Macaulay completely ignored the Indian mother languages, Charles Wood gave some relaxation to the use of mother languages by sending a dispatch to Lord Dalhousie in 1854, wherein he mentioned that the means of school education would be in the mother language, while higher education was to be granted in English only. Wood’s Dispatch is known as the foundation of the present system of education in India.
After Independence, the use of mother languages has been reiterated in several policy documents and commission reports starting from the University Education Commission (1948-49), Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) and Official Language Commission (1956); the principles of the three-language formula were first discussed in the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting, 1957, and this evolved as a consensus in 1961 at a meeting of the chief ministers of different states. The Kothari Commission (1964-66) stated: “Medium of education in school and higher education should generally be the same... The regional languages are adopted as the media of education in higher education... Three-language formula should be implemented.” This was reinforced in the National Policy of Education (NPE) in 1968 and the NPE 1986, Program of Action of 1992 and Draft New Education Policy 2019.
Though the use of mother languages as mediums of instruction in school and higher education has been armoured from pre-Independence times, sadly, the number of those desiring to study in English has been multiplying exponentially. This has led to the burgeoning of monolingual educational institutes governed by the English language and is creating a society that is far from sensitive, just and equitable. As per U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) data, in the year 2013-14, out of the total enrolled students in school, 15% of the students had English as the medium of instruction. This had substantially increased to 21% in 2017-18. Among the mother languages, Hindi as a mother language witnessed a decline from 47% to 45% across all grades; in the urban areas, 42% of students studied in English medium schools compared to 13% in rural areas in 2017-18.
Further, the transition from the mother language to English has happened across grades (elementary, primary, secondary, higher secondary), with a maximum 7% increase in the use of English as medium of instruction in primary classes and a proportionate decline from 86% to 79% in the use of mother languages as mediums of instruction. Hindi as a medium of instruction observed a decline of 4% (51% to 47%) in primary classes. The nature of dominance of English over all other mother languages is allied to power, status and identity of students. Students speaking different mother languages come together to study in an educational institute where they interact with each other without any difficulties at both school and higher education level. Yet they are being taught monolingually through a foreign language that not all students are able to associate with. The whole process has led to the ignorance of mother languages and a feeling of disassociation among students, and bears a strong resemblance to what Macaulay did in 1835.
In order to rejuvenate and preserve mother languages and help students associate more with what they study, we need to develop pragmatic strategies to make a transition from English to the mother language as medium of instruction. Though we may face daunting problems at the start, like inadequate teaching, lack of learning material and trained teachers, such a step is necessary. The change needs to be started from higher education institutes; one can then arrive at and adopt solutions at lower levels. The transformation cannot happen in isolation and needs to have a threefold focus: (1) Language teacher’s training and recruitment; (2) Development of quality programmes on language and literature; and (3) Research on languages.
This progression will form the basis of the education system’s contribution to the vibrancy and growth of all Indian languages, and India’s rich cultural heritage and traditions, and will help in increasing enrolment of students in higher education. In the process, we must not overlook English as a language. While students must learn English, it should come not at the cost of mother languages but along with them. The practice of teaching and learning should be reorganised such that students are able to attain a high level of proficiency in mother languages as well as in English or any other foreign language.
To preserve mother languages and help students associate more with what they study, we need to develop pragmatic strategies to make a transition from English to the mother language as medium of instruction. Though we may face daunting problems at the start, such a step is necessary. The change needs to be started from higher education institutes; one can then arrive at and adopt solutions at lower levels.
(BV R C Purushottam is an IAS officer, Private Secretary to Union HRD Minister Email: basava.ias@gmail.com )