HYDERABAD: Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal said on Monday that all States must focus on implementing education till the primary level in the students’ mother tongues, as propounded in the New Education Policy (NEP).
The Minister said this during the e-inaugural of the Central Institute of Hindi’s new building in Hyderabad, constructed on government-provided land in Bowenpally, and built at a cost of Rs5.67 crore.
Around 14,000 students and teachers received training in Hindi from the Hyderabad centre, which was functioning in a rented building since 1976. In a counter to the argument that teaching in mother tongue will impede global competitiveness of students, the Minister said many countries, including Japan, France and Israel, provide education in their native languages and yet have made a lot of progress.
Pokhriyal, in his address, said it was very important that the people of North India get acquainted with South Indian languages vice-versa. However, he added that it was Mahatma Gandhi’s dream that the responsibility of connecting all 22 regional languages of the country included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution is on Hindi.