Headed by Union home minister Amit Shah, the Committee of Parliament on Official Language recommended that in all the technical or non-technical educational institutions including central universities, the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi, and local languages.
In the report presented to President Droupadi Murmu, as per the committee English should be the medium of instruction only where it is absolutely necessary. It also added that gradually English should be replaced with Hindi in those institutions.
Hindi As Medium of Instruction in All Technical & Non-Technical
As per the recommendation “Use of Hindi as medium of instruction and other activities should be Hindi in all technical and non-technical institutions in the country and use of English should be made optional”.
Now, let’s dig deep into the technical as well as non-technical institutions. The technical institutions include Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of management (IIMs), and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) under the Union government.
The non-technical institutes include Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and central universities.
Elimination of Compulsory English-language Question Paper
In addition to adding Hindi as the medium of instruction in training institutes, the committee has also elimination of compulsory English-language question paper in the recruitment examinations.
The report said that “In many recruitment examinations, Hindi medium option is not available and English-language question paper is compulsorily included. In this situation, the candidate gives preference to English over Hindi. Therefore, mandatory English-language question papers should be discontinued, and Hindi options be given… requisite knowledge of Hindi for the selection of employees should be ensured and in the recruitment examinations, the question paper of Hindi should mandatorily be included in place of English”.
With the option of high court proceedings in Hindi, it has asked for the adequate arrangement of Hindi translation for all relevant high court orders.
Not just that, it also said that warning should be given to those government officials who do not work in Hindi in Hindi-speaking states.
It said that “The committee has found that some officers or employees don’t work in Hindi. So those officials should be given a warning and an explanation should be sought from them. If satisfactory reply is not received, it should be recorded in their Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR)”.