The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) recently launched by Dharmendra Pradhan recommended that a child’s mother tongue should be the primary medium of instruction, both in public and private schools up to Standard VIII. In fact, the NCF of 2000 indicated that the medium of instruction should ideally be the mother tongue at all stages of school education. This is because globally, educationists recognise that children learn best when taught in their mother tongue, especially in the early years of childhood. This allows the child to absorb much more than when taught in a non-familiar language.
India is uniquely placed because of the diversity of its population. Our regional languages are rich in literature. That wealth is part of our cultural heritage and must be protected. It is perhaps for that reason that linguistic minorities have the protection of the Constitution.
Recently, the home minister cited the recommendation of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language, headed by him, that the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi in all technical and non-technical institutions including central universities, and that gradually, English should be replaced with Hindi as the medium of instruction in those institutions. This would apply not only to the IITs and IIMs but also to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, which fall in the category of non-technical institutions.
In this context, the Committee also recommended that recruitment to the central services should also be in Hindi and that the mandatory English language question papers be discontinued. This way, employees will acquire the requisite working knowledge of Hindi.
On October 16, 2022, the home minister launched an MBBS course in Hindi for the first time in the country, claiming that the launch symbolises the renaissance and reconstruction of the education sector and that in engineering studies too, Hindi should be the medium of instruction. Chartering such a course is possible because the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 included education in List–III, covering technical and medical education and universities as well as vocational and technical training of labour.
None thought that the Union would mandate state governments to discontinue English as the medium of instruction and substitute it with Hindi in medical and engineering institutions. Such an expansive power, which allows the Union to determine the language in which students are to be taught, especially in institutions of higher education, is an assault on our federal structure. It is time for state governments to speak up and oppose this regressive process which will deprive young students as well as institutions committed to research, of access to knowledge in the English language.
While across the world, students are learning English because it has become a global lingua franca, the home minister’s statement suggests that India is moving in the opposite direction. In the process,
our aspirational youth may get isolated from the wealth of knowledge that is available to those familiar with English. Be it China, Japan, France or other countries across the world, the young desire to learn English because it helps enrich their knowledge especially in areas of research and scientific developments.
Access to such knowledge platforms allows our students to be empowered. Why then would any government deprive our students of access to knowledge which is a means of self-realisation? Such a policy, if implemented, will impact the future of young students seeking to conquer the world.
English is an aspirational language. That is why, across the country, even the poor and the marginalised wish to learn and speak it, for even a little proficiency in it opens up avenues for seeking employment. That is why, along with the mother tongue, English is taught as one of the languages in both public and private schools across the country. This is not to say that Hindi should not be taught in schools. On the contrary, Hindi should be taught not with intent to supplant English but for it to be a language of common parlance across the country.
Besides, the Union should not have the right to control the language which a child must embrace while studying. Hindi, as the mother tongue, is prevalent in several states in India. In those states, young students will not be conversant in any language other than Hindi because they may not wish to learn any regional language if English is discontinued as the medium of instruction in higher education. They then will be deprived of the opportunity to learn English. This is hardly a progressive way of dealing with the future of our children.
What language a child should be taught in, is ultimately the choice parents must exercise, subject to the policy of the State. What other languages a child must learn should again be left to parents till the child can decide on her own. The State cannot be allowed to interfere, as a matter of law, since it relates to the future of the child. This is indeed a matter of privacy and personal liberty.
The home minister, if he seeks to implement what he said, would be treading into the sensitive area of personal liberty. To learn a language is a matter of choice. It is personal to every individual and any imposition by the State is an assault on privacy. India’s diversity is under assault, and uniformity is not an answer, for it makes for divisive politics which tears asunder rather than unites.
Language is a means of communication and the more conversant we are in a particular language, the more connected we will be. Communication in a particular language between two individuals of diverse backgrounds also leads to a level of comfort in relationships.
Why would the home minister deprive our students of that opportunity in the digital age while students around the world are communicating with each other, maybe, through online learning, which is a new mode of education in certain specific areas of knowledge? Why should our students be deprived of this opportunity while not being fully conversant in the English language?
I can only say that foisting uniformity is antithetical to the access to knowledge.
If it is politics and politics alone, I can understand the push of the home minister. But the future of our children is more important than the politics of the home minister.
Kapil Sibal
Senior lawyer and member of Rajya Sabha
(Tweets @KapilSibal)