মাতৃভাষায় শিক্ষার গুরুত্ব ও জাতীয় শিক্ষানীতি ২০২০/ The Importance of Education in the Mother Tongue and the National Education Policy 2020

Abstract

The importance of education in the mother tongue has been unanimously acknowledged by all thinkers, educationists, and linguists. The mother tongue opens the gateway to the world of knowledge. In India, 121 mother tongues have been officially recognized, of which 22 languages are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. These mother tongues have been categorized into several groups—mother tongue, rationalized mother tongue, classified mother tongue, and unclassified mother tongue, among others.

         In any educational policy, the question of language deserves independent and serious discussion. Language is deeply intertwined with society, economy, and politics. It also serves as a powerful tool in the hands of dominant groups. As a result, linguistic hegemony becomes a major obstacle to the development of mother tongues. The three-language policy in education reinforces this dominance. So far, it has often functioned as a means of undermining the mother tongue and has contributed to linguistic inequality.

         In the case of non-Hindi-speaking populations, the policy has made the learning of Hindi compulsory, thereby have narrowed the scope of linguistic diversity and made uneven development of languages more evident. The National Education Policy 2020 has given legal backing to this three-language formula. Among classical languages, Sanskrit has been given significantly greater emphasis, along with substantial financial allocation.

        Although the National Education Policy mentions the importance of the mother tongue, there has been little concrete effort toward its development. There is a lack of proper planning, state initiatives, institutional support, and the creation of appropriate curricula in alignment with this goal. As a consequence, many minority mother tongues continue to face neglect. If this trend persists, several of these languages may gradually move toward extinction in the future.