Experts: Learning in mother tongue crucial
Kasturirangan says the 3-language formula was well thought out and not new, while Dhawan stresses on the importance of getting every child to read, write, do basic maths, and move away from rote learning
NEW DELHI: The three-language formula in the New Education Policy (NEP) is aimed at stimulating learning in the crucial early years, building flexibility into the curriculum and fostering an appreciation of India’s rich cultural heritage, drafting committee chairman K Kasturirangan said on Thursday, rejecting charges that the plan facilitated the imposition of Hindi on southern states.
Speaking at the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Kasturirangan said, “The ability of the child to learn languages is extremely critical between three and eight years of age. It is found that if you stimulate those parts of the brain where language learning occurs, then it grows faster.”
Ashish Dhawan, founder of Central Square Foundation, and one of the founders of Ashoka University, agreed, saying: “Research shows children should learn in the mother tongue if they want to acquire language skills.” He also argued that introduction of English as the first language doesn’t make sense. “If it’s a language you’re not introduced to at home, if you can’t speak the language, it’s much harder to acquire the language.”
The three-language formula in the New Education Policy (NEP) is aimed at stimulating learning in the crucial early years, building flexibility into the curriculum and fostering an appreciation of India’s rich cultural heritage, drafting committee chairman K Kasturirangan said on Thursday, rejecting charges that the plan facilitated the imposition of Hindi on southern states.
Speaking at the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Kasturirangan and Ashish Dhawan, founder and Chief Executive Officer, Central Square Foundation and one of the founders of Ashoka University, also trained their focus on the quality of education imparted by private institutions and detailed the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kasturirangan said the three-language formula — which states that school students have to learn three languages, two being Indian languages — was well thought out and not new.
“The ability of the child to learn languages is extremely critical between three and eight years of age. It is found that if you stimulate those parts of the brain where language learning occurs, then it grows faster. Their ability to absorb different aspects of the language is much better,” said Kasturirangan, also the former chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Dhawan agreed, saying that the evidence clearly pointed to the superiority of mother tongue as the medium of instruction in the early years. “Research shows children should learn in the mother tongue if they want to acquire language skills,” he said.
He also argued that introduction of English as the first language doesn’t make sense. “If it’s a language you’re not introduced to at home, if you can’t speak the language and don’t have the vocabulary, it’s much harder to acquire the language…you’re better off introducing English much later, and allocating that time to the mother tongue.”
The NEP was made public last year and quickly triggered a controversy with some southern states — such as Tamil Nadu that has a decades-long history of anti-Hindi protests — saying the three-language formula was a ploy for the backdoor imposition of Hindi.
But Kasturirangan said NEP had widened the policy, made it flexible and ensured that any initial investment would pay off in later years as students would have an increased capacity to pick up languages. “In the past 50-60 years, we have lost 220-230 languages…culture and language are related so we have to make sure that by learning languages, you’re enriching the entire cultural heritage of the country.”
The two experts also touched on the quality of education, especially in private institutions. Dhawan quoted a report which stated that 47.5% of students went to private schools and in at least 16 states, this number was more than 50%. He also underlined that most of these private institutions were budget facilities with monthly fees between ₹1000 or lower. “We need to look at the private system and say there should be much greater transparency…we should give them greater autonomy, lower regulation, lower the license raj but insist on greater accountability and transparency as well,” he added.
Kasturirangan said the drafting committee of NEP paid close attention to private educational institutions and created an even-handed regulatory framework. “We have brought private and public school at the same level…it is a balanced and nuanced policy,” he added.
He explained that the NEP focused on learning, numeracy and literacy between ages three and eight and aimed to transform the assessment process, make it more formative and support struggling students. “Students will be tested for higher-order skills, analysis, critical thinking and conceptual clarity. Teachers will be trained for this,” he added.
The role of community, parents and teachers will be critical in this process. “It is not going to be a progress sheet or mark sheet, it will be a totality of what the student needs. The future report card will be much more elaborate.”
Dhawan stressed on the importance of getting every child to read, write and do basic mathematics, and move away from rote learning. “Give teacher the right tools. Lift the bottom half. We will only improve overall if we lift the bottom. Focusing on the top 10% will not help,” he said.
The education sector has been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic that has shut schools, forced children indoors and shifted classes and learning online. But this shift has not been seamless owing to India’s digital divide — smartphone usage in India stands at around 500 million and internet penetration remains poor, especially in rural areas — and many children face the danger of losing a year or dropping out. To address this, Kasturirangan argued that the government had to focus on technology. “We have established the national educational technology forum that can debate on futuristic aspect of technology, their suitability, adoptability and economics,” he said.
Dhawan said the pandemic was a reminder of the primacy of education in the physical form. But he pointed out that there were some major takeaways, in that the infection forced teachers to reach out to parents, forced governments to think of omni-channel approaches and increasing digital content in vernacular languages. “But there is a silver lining, we have a better connect between teachers and parents…we can take advantage of this channel of communication to build a home-based techdriven curriculum,” he added.