New Education Policy revives debate on medium of instruction
NEP recommends home language/mother tongue/local language or regional language in primary classes
With the new National Education Policy (NEP) being approved by the Union Cabinet, the debate around the medium of instruction in primary classes has once again cropped up in Karnataka. The NEP recommends medium of instruction to be in the home language/mother tongue/local language or regional language in primary classes.
The NEP states: “Wherever possible, the medium of instruction till grade 5, and preferably till grade eight and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language or regional language.”
This has left officials of the Department of Primary and Secondary Education in a spot as the State government has started English-medium sections in government schools from the 2019-20 academic year, which has received a good response.
School managements point out that the NEP goes against the apex court’s verdict stating that imposition of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary classes was “unconstitutional”.
In 2014, after a two-decade-old legal battle, the Supreme Court held that imposition of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary classes in government-recognised, aided or unaided private schools was unconstitutional. It quashed the Karnataka government’s order that the medium of instruction should be either the mother tongue or Kannada for classes I to IV from the academic year 1994-95. Following this court order, private schools were granted permission to start English-medium classes in primary schools.