The Indian government has signalled their intent to make teaching in the mother tongue mandatory at the primary level in the future.
Schools To Map Student’s Mother Tongues
Considering the same, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has ordered all the affiliated schools to map students’ mother tongues “at the earliest” and align instructional materials accordingly before the end of the summer break.
So far, English is considered the dominant language of instruction in primary classes in CBSE schools in India.
Here mentioned CBSE is the largest national school board in the country holding over 30,000 affiliated schools.
According to the CBSE circular, pre-primary to Class 2 which is also called the ‘foundational stage’ under the National Education Policy 2020, its teaching should be in the child’s home language, mother tongue, or a familiar regional language.
Basically they refer to this language as ‘R1’ and it should ideally be the mother tongue.
If that’s not possible then it can be the state language, as long as it’s familiar to the child, as mentioned in the circular.
Further this circular mentioned that for classes 3 to 5, the students may continue to learn in R1 (mother tongue/ familiar regional language), or may be given the option of studying in a medium other than R1 (that is, R2).
Challenges In Densely Populated Cities
The circular dated May 22 informed that teaching in the mother tongue may “commence from July”, so it leaves some room for flexibility for schools that may need more time to transition.
But implementing these CBSE’s instructions may prove to be challenging in the cities with mobile populations such as Delhi, Mumbai.
As these cities are populated with people who have migrated from across the country.
So, finding a common mother tongue or even a common regional language for a classroom having children from diverse linguistic backgrounds will definitely get complicated.
This initiative holds significance as it is the first time the CBSE has indicated it may make mother tongue-based teaching compulsory in its schools.
Before this, the Board had only encouraged its use through advisory circulars, following the release of the NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023.
