Teaching in mother tongue up to Grade 5 is a welcome policy change

The New Education Policy 2020 approved by the cabinet is going to have an enormous impact on the entire education system as it seeks to overhaul every aspect of the prevailing one.

Education was an area Narendra Modi government at the Centre had allowed to remain untouched for a long time. There were expectations and calls for major reforms. However, nothing much was being done.

New Education Policy 2020 seeks to address all those issues that have been warranting careful resolution for a long time.

NEP 2020 has many new and revolutionary proposals which are likely to have a big impact on the way education is disseminated in the country. But the biggest and the most impactful is certainly the one that mandates teaching in mother tongue or regional langue up to grade V.

It is a proven fact that any child thinks and expresses in his/her mother tongue first. Mother tongue is the most natural medium of learning. While learning any other language is good, salutary and desirable, it is good only till it is done playfully and not through coercion. Forcing a small child to learn non-mother tongue language through coercive teachers, books and marks system is nothing but sheer torture. A second language is fun only till the child enjoys having that fun.

The other aims in the new education policy too are broadly positive and will have good impact on the entire system.

The proposal to allow flexibility in choosing subjects in higher education is also a very welcome step. A science student interested in history can now choose history as a subject. Besides the credit system proposed in the policy too will help the students in a big way.

NEP 2020 has a number of welcome proposals, but making mother tongue the medium of instructions up to grade V is certainly the best of all those proposals.