• Source:JND
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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has granted permission to its affiliated schools to utilise the mother tongue as an optional medium of instruction from the pre-primary stages up to class 12. To align the education system with the guidelines of the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), the board made this decision.

The National Education Policy 2020 emphasises the utilisation of home language, mother tongue, local language, or regional language as the medium of instruction at different levels of education.

"The implementation of multilingual education and the utilization of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction present several challenges including the availability of skilled teachers capable of teaching in multilingual settings, the creation of high-quality multilingual textbooks, and the limited time available, especially in two-shift government schools, as multilingual education demands additional instructional time allocation," reads the circular.

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NCERT Preparing New Textbooks

According to CBSE, the education ministry has issued a directive to the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) to develop new textbooks in 22 scheduled Indian languages, and these will be accessible starting from the 2024-25 academic session.

Higher education institutions have taken the initiative to prepare textbooks in Indian languages and introduce the learning-teaching process using these languages, in addition to English. Further, it will also decide to examine Indian languages and develop textbooks for students pursuing technical, medical, vocational skills, law, and other disciplines in Indian languages.

“#3yearsofNEP #NEP2020 emphasizes the importance and cognitive benefits of multilingualism for young students. Use of Indian languages as an alternative medium of instructions from primary classes to class 12 has been reiterated in this important circular of CBSE," CBSE tweeted. 

“Well-done @cbseindia29. This is a laudatory step towards encouraging education in mother tongue and Indian languages in schools,” education minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted on CBSE’s decision. 

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