Government's vision to erase language barrier will make higher education all-inclusive

Currently, over 95 per cent of our students receive primary education in their mother tongues. They suffer a lot in the pursuit of their higher studies as the medium of instruction therein happens to be English.

At an event to celebrate two years of the National Education Policy last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah called for teaching engineering, law, medicine and research in Indian languages. This reflects the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's determination to make higher education all-inclusive in the country.

Observers say broad-basing higher education socially deserves to be translated into reality. Experience in the contemporary world is that a nation becomes really powerful and prosperous when its education is all inclusive. Minister Shah has rightly said, "education in the mother tongue has a strong association with the promotion of research... It helps enhance a person's logical thinking, memory and skills for policy making and implementation."

Minister Shah has long been an advocate of teaching in our regional languages. Addressing a function on the occasion of Hindi Diwas last year, he appealed to parents to communicate with their children at home in their mother tongue even if they studied in English medium schools. Otherwise, he said, the children would be cut-off from their roots.

Pertinently, Shah underlined the importance of Hindi on this occasion and said, "Hindi has no difference with any regional language. Hindi is the 'Sakhi' (friend) of all Indian regional languages." Shah said that all Indian regional languages complemented and completed Hindi and all regional languages must be promoted and encouraged.

Shah's call for the promotion of local languages in higher education is very much in sync with our National Education Policy 2020. It must be accorded utmost attention across the nation. Currently, over 95 per cent of our students receive primary education in their mother tongues. They suffer a lot in the pursuit of their higher studies as the medium of instruction therein happens to be English. If the medium of instruction is changed into the local languages, the students would find it much useful in grasping and mastering their subjects.

Fortunately, the educational environment in the country is being increasingly friendly to the use of the Indian languages. In the recent years, several efforts have been made to make engineering courses in the Indian languages. The All India Council for Technological Education has granted, with effect from the academic year (2021-22), approval to 19 engineering colleges in 10 states for having engineering courses in six Indian languages. The Council has also developed an Artificial Intelligence tool that translates English online courses into Indian languages.

The observers add our judiciary would do well to allow the use of Indian languages in its proceedings. This would encourage law students in pursuing their studies in their local languages.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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