In a move to enable students to pursue their education in their native languages, the Indian government has decided to digitise study materials for all school and higher education courses in languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The Ministry of Education issued an order today, instructing educational regulators such as UGC, AICTE, NCERT, NIOS, IGNOU, as well as institutions like IITs, CUs and NITs, to make study materials available in Indian languages over the next three years. Additionally, UGC, AICTE and the Department of School Education are tasked with addressing this matter in state schools and universities, according to an official release.
These directives align with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP), emphasising the promotion of multilingualism across all levels of education. The aim is to provide students the opportunity to study in their mother tongue, fostering better learning outcomes and allowing for innovative thinking free from language barriers, the release mentioned.
NEP-2020 underscores the richness of Bharat’s multilingual nature as a significant asset and strength, to be efficiently utilised for the nation’s socio-cultural, economic and educational development. Creating educational content in local languages is seen as a means to enhance this multilingual asset and contribute to the advancement of ‘Viksit Bharat,’ with the goal of making the country a developed nation by 2047, as per the release.