The politics of language threatens to rear its ugly head once again. The new draft education policy that had proposed a three-language policy triggered strong reactions especially from the non-Hindi speaking states who alleged an imposition of Hindi.
DMK leader MK Stalin came down heavily on the proposal. He tweeted in Tamil that imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu would be similar to throwing stones at a beehive. Raj Thackeray's party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) too tweeted against enforcing Hindi on the state. This policy document was recommended by a nine-member committee headed by Dr Kasturirangan.
Speaking to Bloomberg Quint’s Harsha Subramaniam, Dr Kasturirangan said that children in that particular age have the capability to learn as many languages as possible.
“Between the age two and between the age eight, the development of the brain is very amenable to learning multiple languages. This is besides mother tongue, local tongue, home language. etc.”Dr Kasturirangan
Centre Tweaks Policy Following Uproar
As a result of an outrage over the draft of national education policy that favoured teaching Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, the Centre has tweaked its policy. Consequently, references to specific languages including Hindi have been removed but it still seeks to propound the three-language formula.
The draft, formulated by a committee headed by Dr Kasturirangan had earlier recommended a three-language formula according to which English and Hindi should be included, besides mother tongue in non-Hindi speaking states.
It further recommended the inclusion of English and one Indian language from other parts of the country in Hindi speaking regions.
The draft of National Education Policy 2019 was submitted to the Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on 31 May.
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