[lg policy] n the recent language row, the National Education Policy (NEP) made Hindi a mandatory language in schools even in South. Finally, this draft has been scrapped

[Harold Schiffman]

Attempt To Make Hindi A Compulsory Language In Schools All Over India Was A
Bad Idea
<https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/author/amit_kumar_jha_1/>
Amit Kumar Jha <https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/author/amit_kumar_jha_1/> in
Education <https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/category/education/>
11 hours ago


In the recent language row, the National Education Policy
<https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwizlsjJtOPiAhXMqY8KHYbrCM8QFjAAegQIARAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindubusinessline.com%2Fnews%2Feducation%2Fhindi-not-mandatory-in-revised-draft-of-national-education-policy-2019%2Farticle27412661.ece&usg=AOvVaw14zEgEUx4H0WiPA_9rwLmO>
(NEP)
made Hindi a mandatory language in schools even in South. Finally, this
draft has been scrapped.

It is an established fact that mother language eases the comprehension of
subject matter. But in India there are many vernacular languages that
dominate Hindi when it comes to mother language. Hindi is only the second
mother language. So a student has to learn at least 3 or 4 languages viz. a
vernacular, Hindi, English and sometimes other Indian languages like
Sanskrit. I think language, except for higher studies, is not
“education”—they are just a way of communication and presentation. More
languages will take unnecessary time and effort.

If you take the example of countries around the world you will find that
most of them give emphasis on two languages. In the U.S. it’s English and
Spanish, in Japan it’s Japanese and English, and so on. They primarily
emphasize on the study of one language and the other is a second language.
Also read: Indian Education Is A System Whose Technology Is Never Updated
<https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/05/indian-education-an-un-updated-technology/>

In India, there are three problems related to languages before the
government. First is to make the curriculum easily comprehensible for the
young minds. Second is to save the rich lingual past—as some languages are
at the brink of extinction. India has multiple languages and dialects;
saving them is necessary but a herculean task. Third is to develop a
lingua-franca for the country. And obviously Hindi is best possible option.
But why did the government not share this dilemma with the public? I think
people would definitely coöperate.

Government must initiate a “library mission” to open a library in each
village with books of different languages. They should let the system run
as it is, and not put extra burden on school children. The government
should instead try to inculcate a reading habit among children who spend
more time on the digital screens these days.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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