Discussions in and out of Parliament have been triggered by the National Education Policy’s (NEP) three-language formula.
According to a report, English usage in medical entrance exams is dropping to its lowest level in three years in 2024, while Indian languages are becoming more prevalent.
Three Language Formula by National Education Policy
With a noticeable shift toward regional languages, more than 2.41 million students took the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in 2024.
For the benefit of the students, Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to bring engineering and medical education to Tamil. He stated, “I appeal to the Tamil Nadu chief minister to start the engineering and medical education in Tamil in the state for the benefit of students.”
Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty also responded to the current agitation in Parliament regarding the National Education Policy’s (NEP) three-language policy by saying, “II have always believed that one can learn multiple languages, and I myself know 7-8 languages. I always enjoy learning, and children can learn a lot.”
Students Choosing To Speak Regional Languages: NTA NEET
According to National Testing Agency (NTA) NEET data, students are increasingly choosing to speak Bengali, Tamil, and other regional languages.
In just five years, the overall number of students enrolled in NEET has almost doubled.
In 2024, there were 357,908 Hindi exam languages, up from 179,857 in 2019.
The number of students choosing Tamil increased from 17,101 in 2020 to 36,333 in 2024.
Nearly 80% of students still speak English as their primary language, although its percentage fell from 79.3% in 2019 to 78.6% in 2024.
Between 2019 and 2024, Gujarati usage decreased marginally from 59,395 to 58,836.
In 2024, there were only 1,312 Odia speakers, a sharp decline from 31,490 in 2019.
In 2024, there were 1,545 Urdu candidates, down from 1,858 in 2019.
