Dr Tarseem Kumar
rainatarseem.ar@gmail.com
With regard to language, it is believed that each language has a different way of looking at the world. Each language has specific sources of knowledge that other languages do not have. Therefore, it is important that each language is preserved so that the knowledge contained in those languages can be protected. Preservation of languages is also necessary for the creation of a good society, because if a person is taken away from his mother tongue, it will also affect his mental process and he will not be able to develop the wisdom that is necessary for the creation of a good society. Therefore, it is important to have a clear approach towards education in the mother tongue. There has been a conflict in India over which language should be the medium of instruction. In 1835, during the British rule in India, Thomas Babington Macaulay formulated the policy of introducing the English system of education in the British colonies.

Dogri Manyata Divas

The first National Education Policy of independent India comes out in 1968 which talks about the three Language formula “At the secondary stage, the State Governments should adopt, and vigorously implement, the three-language formula which includes the study of a modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages, apart from Hindi and English in the Hindi-speaking States, and of Hindi along with the regional language and English in the Non-Hindi-speaking States.”
The National Education Policy, 1986 repeats the policy described in the National Education Policy, 1968 relating to languages. In few words, the policy calls for the adoption of regional languages as medium of instruction at the university level; strong efforts to implement the trilingual formula and serious efforts for translation of books from one language to another. While the education policies of 1968 and 1986 addressed the inclusion of mother tongue in education through trilingual formulas, the new education policy of 2020 adopts a broader approach to mother tongues. The most revolutionary approach in the new education policy 2020 is that it advocated the mother tongue as medium of instruction in education. The first sentence of point 4.11 of the education policy prepared by experts under the chairmanship of former Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman K. Kasturirangan is very important, “It is well understood that young children learn and grasp non trivial concepts more quickly in their home language/mother tongue.” The word non-trivial is important in this sentence. It is an adjective word meaning unusual, difficult or complicated. In the context of early education, subjects related to mathematics and science can be said to be non-trivial because these subjects require children to use more of Reasoning or of intelligence. In other words, this sentence makes it clear that subjects such as mathematics or science will be taught to children in the mother tongue. NEP 2020 said, “All efforts will be made in preparing high-quality bilingual textbooks and teaching-learning materials for science and mathematics, so that students are enabled to think and speak about the two subjects both in their home language/mother tongue and in English.”
In point 4.11 NEP States that wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language. Thereafter, the home/local language shall continue to be taught as a language wherever possible. This will be followed by both public and private schools. The importance of mother tongue in the development of high quality human resources is also confirmed by the new Education Policy in point 4.12, “As research clearly shows that children pick up languages extremely quickly between the ages of 2 and 8 and that multilingualism has great cognitive benefits to young students, children will be exposed to different languages early on (but with a particular emphasis on the mother tongue), starting from the Foundational Stage onwards.” In other words, research shows that teaching children more than one language with emphasis on the mother tongue during the age of two to eight improves children’s intellectual/cognitive development. If analyzed closely, it is clear that mother tongue is related to children’s mental health and development. While knowing the requirement of Human resources in the implementation of Policy, NEP says that, “There will be a major effort from both the Central and State Governments to invest in large numbers of language teachers in all regional languages around the country, and, in particular, for all languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.”
NEP Emphasis Mother Tongue/local language will be used as the medium of instruction in most educational programs in higher education institutions. In the new education policy, it has been said that B.Ed. should also be taught in two languages so that teachers of Mathematics and Science should be prepared to teach in two languages. National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022 is one of the key components of NEP 202. The third chapter of the NCF-FS prepared by NCERT on the basis of NEP 2020 fully supports the medium of teaching in mother tongue.
It is clear from this discussion that the NEP and related documents are clearly and unambiguously telling the Central and State Governments that the medium of instruction should be the mother tongue and this should be implemented in both private and Government schools.
Jugal Kishore Sharma, Member of Parliament from Jammu Reasi constituency of Jammu and Kashmir UT, urged the Ministry of Education to take proactive steps to promote the Dogri language in the Jammu region. Raising the issue in the Winter Session Lok Sabha, Jugal Kishore specifically questioned the Government about the availability of teaching materials, including textbooks, training, and digital content, in Dogri for students up to Class 5.
But there are many problems in implementing mother tongue as a medium of education. These problems are related to the availability of human resources and textbooks as well as social and personal thinking. As far as imparting education in mother tongue, especially Dogri language, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the School Education Board is in the process of preparing and translating textbooks in various subjects including Mathematics and Science, but these books have not been made public yet. However, NCERT has taken rapid initiative in this direction and has translated about 10 books of different subjects and grade into Dogri and published them on its website.
But the biggest problem is to implement Dogri language as the medium of instruction in schools. Private participation in school education is increasing day by day and mother tongue is very little encouraged here. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, 57.2 percent of children aged 6 to 14 years in Jammu and Kashmir are enrolled in Government schools. Talking about private schools, 41.7 percent of children in this age group are enrolled. It is clear from the data that private and corporate involvement in school education will pose a challenge in implementing any policy that is against the profit-making approach. Wrong concepts regarding education have also been developed in the society that a child will progress if he gets education through the English language. Citing a UNESCO report, renowned linguist Professor Joga Singh Virk has written that there are many misconceptions about English prevalent in society, which include,”That English is the language of science and knowledge and the mastery of English, therefore, is essential to make progress in these fields and English is the language of international communication and business and no international exchange is possible without it.”
But such arguments are the result of complete ignorance about the relationship between language and science, education, knowledge. The new education policy has also made it clear, citing several researches that studying through the mother tongue is essential for the intellectual development of the child and imposing any other language on the child in early education will somehow hinder his mental development.
If everyone now knows that the basis of basic education should be mother tongue and we have NEP 2020 and related documents to implement it, then there should be no delay in implementing it. Because this issue is directly related to the mental health of children and indirectly to the development of the nation.
(The author is Head of Department, Dogri PSPS College for women Gandhinagar, Jammu)

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