NEP 2020 and Language

 As we ponder and implement NEP 2020, the question of identity, culture, ethnicity, language, education and time-tested and research-based shreds of evidence formulates one aspect clear that teaching students in their mother tongue makes them much more comfortable and sharp than teaching them in any other language. however, UNESCO data confirms that around 40% of worldwide learners are educated in a language other than their mother tongue.

This leads to numerous problems. Students face setbacks and other social and educational hiccups. To address this issue, the government of India, through NEP 2020 took the revolutionary decision of giving education in the mother tongue. So Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) ordering to use the mother tongue for teaching is a needed and admirable move.

Singapore, Thailand, China, Israel, China, Taiwan, Japan etc got independence almost with India. However, their education system is much better than the Indian education system. One of the most important reasons for this high standard is teaching in mother tongues. 

Thomas Macaulay loathed India and the Indian education system and created a new English education system to produce a class to help the British govern and control India and the Indians. This was Indian in colour and blood but British in morals, opinions, taste and style. They were more British and less Indian. That was the metamorphosis, the English language brought into the lives of Indians.

Noticing this fall, Gandhiji and some other nationalist leaders expressed their deep distress over English education. Not only this, they realised that the English language is creating a deep divide and inequality between English-educated and non-English-educated people. This English has crippled the educated class mentally prejudiced and wounded, morally clumsy and disconnected from their land, society, culture and families. In other words, they are less patriotic and ready to leave their motherland, kith and kin at the first opportunity.

Nationalist leaders like Purshottam Das Tandon, C. Rajagopalachari, Govind Ballabh Pant, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Annie Besant, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, etc understood the negative impact of English on Indians. These leaders and freedom fighters not only have a brilliant understanding of the people and culture of India but also its fabulous spiritual and literary heritage. They supported early education in Hindi or their tongue and English as a second language.

Interestedly leaders like Nehru, Ambedkar, Seth Govind Das, Abul Kalam Azad, T.T. Krishnamachari, and E.V. Ramaswamy (Periyar), advocated English. Now, it is a well-known fact that education in the mother tongue is highly beneficial for children. UNESCO, through its Global Monitoring Education report, has supported early education in the mother tongue. Mother tongue-based bilingual schooling is much more useful than any other language for pedagogical grounds.

There is a big delusion in India, that without good English, one cannot get a good job. They are made to believe that education in the mother tongue deprives students of a good career. However, researchers have different opinions. Students with their mother tongue at the schooling medium found it very easy to master English later. When students learn English or any other second language later in their career, the skills learnt while being trained in their mother tongue can be used.

Research at the University of Ontario and on Latin American-origin learners found that proficiency in English is directly related to the teachings of English at the school level. The students who have early education in their mother tongue were found better in English than those who have been introduced to English at the school level.

In India, school education has given birth to many educational and social problems. Education in a language other than the mother tongue has dropped the literacy rate by 18% to 20%. The college dropout rate is increased by 20% to 22%. It is high time that policymakers must renounce the idea that English education is essential for the career growth and progress of the nation.   

English-educated people in India are seen as very self-centred. Getting and chance, Convent educated and English medium learners are always ready to leave their families and the nation. They also found lacking in nationalism and family ties. Senior citizens can be seen living alone and their children settled abroad. This is the biggest reward of English medium education.

Apart from benefits, education in the mother tongue is a fundamental right of every child. Teachings in the mother tongue also lead to the upliftment of cultural, spiritual and value systems. Such education can strengthen society and the nation. So the NEP and CBSE policymakers should follow up on admissions, teacher recruitment, curriculum expansion and development and teaching material to cater for the need of Indian language students.

The Indian Education system is hijacked by English Education. Those methods represented in the past the value, culture and ethos are to be recaptured to enable students to focus towards free-thinking, rational approach, nationalism culture and value system. The nasty ghost of Maucauly went so deep into the psyche of Indian Elites and the policymakers that they could not visualize that the soul of their country has been mortgaged with the mortal and suicidal darkness.