Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu has underlined the importance of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in educational institutions, at least at the primary level. He was delivering the inaugural address of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) here on Saturday.
He said a number of studies conducted over the world by expert groups had established that teaching of mother tongue in the initial stages of education gave impetus to the growth of mind and thought and made children more creative and logical. Children could learn any number of languages but promoting the mother tongue and making it the medium of instruction at the primary level was a must, said the V-P. However, he hastened to add that promoting one language did not mean opposing another.
“Languages must unite us in the cause for inclusive and sustainable development. We must also not fail to teach our children multiple languages in order to widen the horizon of their understanding of both literature and science. While there should be no imposition of any language, there should also be no opposition to any language,” he said.
Decrying the growing fascination for English at the cost of one’s mother tongue, he said this was because the language was linked to jobs. Hence, he sought that State governments link employment with the native language up to a certain level.
Mr. Naidu said the common language spoken in a State should be the language for communicating with people in offices and public places for transaction because a majority did not speak English. Local languages should be encouraged and business establishments should have signage in the same, he added. He added that language and culture went together, and one could articulate better in the mother tongue. As civilization grew and people got interconnected, there grew a need for a common language. But the language of the common man and one’s mother tongue should not be forgotten and must be promoted, he stressed.
The V-P said the inadequate availability of pedagogical material and technology in indigenous languages posed a serious challenge for the country. Since education was an instrument for the growth of self, society and the nation, language should not become a barrier to education. Welcoming the new draft National Education Policy which called for implementation of the three-language formula, Mr. Naidu said children had the potential to acquire multilingual skills. These must be encouraged.
Another RIE
Meanwhile, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is establishing South India’s second Regional Institute of Education (RIE) at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. All these years, RIE Mysuru was serving the southern States and Union Territories in the South. Once RIE Nellore gets under way from the next academic year, both will be provide teacher education.
