Home » Multilingualism in school: A new hope for india’s classical languages…

The new NEP 2020 guidelines recognize the importance of preserving the vast multicultural ethos of our country. It’s not a mere need but an absolute necessity for young learners to become aware of the linguistic and cultural diversity that is so deeply rooted in India. To familiarize students with the treasure trove of Indian languages, NEP suggests multilingualism to be incorporated across both teaching and learning processes.

As stated by our Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi,


“Language is the medium of education, not the entire education itself. People caught in too much bookish knowledge fail to grasp this distinction. Whatever language the child can learn easily in, should be the medium of instruction.”

The NEP recommends adopting a language policy that integrates an array of regional languages as part of the curriculum at schools and for higher education. Academic institutions can incorporate this policy by introducing the three-language formula. According to this formula, students will be expected to learn at least three languages at school, out of which one will be the local/regional language. The choice of languages learned will depend on the state and student, however, at least two of the three languages must be native to India.
What’s more, NEP recommends mainstreaming Sanskrit across all levels of education. It will also be offered as an option in the three-language formula. Other classical languages of India, which are Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Pali, Persian and Prakrit should widely be available as options for students to choose from. In the present context of globalization, NEP also recognizes the impact of proficiency in foreign languages. This is why it encourages schools to offer Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai, French, German and Russian at secondary level education.

How the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ (EBSB) program applies to schools

  • Fun project on ‘The Languages of India’ by students between Class 6 to 8
  • Form EBSB clubs at the secondary stage
  • Students can travel to the 100+ locations identified under the EBSB scheme
  • 100+ sentences will be uploaded in regional languages across school websites

In addition, NEP propels schools to generate high-quality learning material that should be made available in both Indian and foreign languages. Schools must offer textbooks, workbooks, magazines, reports and other learning material in regional or home languages to boost student comprehension. Moreover, from an educators perspective, efforts to hire language teachers is expected to grow at every level of education.

This makes it clear that NEP 2020 is all set to welcome a great shift in teaching and learning languages at both schools and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). So, are you ready to incorporate multilingualism at your school?

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