Narendra Modi urged to ensure compulsory teaching of three languages

Guwahati, Jun 23: An international think-tank today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that CBSE schools compulsorily teach three languages including the regional language of the state, Hindi and English.

Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS), an International think-tank for North East India, in a letter to Modi urged the Centre to ensure that a student should "compulsorily learn the National Language of the country (Hindi) and the regional language of the state where the school is situated, besides English."

"We have been following the recent debate about Sanskrit and German in the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools and are in complete agreement that a foreign language should not be taught in Indian schools as a third language," FASS International and Indian Presidents Rajen Barua and Bidyananda Barkakoty said in the letter.

They said foreign languages can be offered by schools in a hobby class if they have the infrastructure or else there will be whole batches of students who will not know either Hindi or their state language properly but will know French or German which is definitely not desirable.

The option in English-medium schools should be English for all students, being the medium of instruction, Hindi or Assamese as either second or third language and if the school wishes, a foreign language can be offered in a hobby Class.

Similar pattern need to be followed in vernacular-medium schools so as to maintain the three-language formula.

They also urged the Prime Minister to take necessary steps to revamp the pattern of languages that CBSE schools can offer in both private schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas and directives also need to go to all school boards in India.

"This will ensure children do not miss out on learning their mother tongue or their national language or the regional language of the state they reside in, as all are important for their all-round development and enriching their minds," they added.

PTI