No budgetary allocation made for multi-lingual education programmes in fiscal 2015-16

No budgetary allocation has been made for multi-lingual education programmes in fiscal 2015-16, the human resource development ministry told parliament.

In a written reply to a Lok Sabha question, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said that the National Education Policy recommends three languages formula at the secondary stage which includes the study of a modern Indian language apart from Hindi and English in the Hindi-speaking states, and of Hindi along with the regional language and English in the Non-Hindi-speaking states.

She further revealed that education being in the concurrent list of the Constitution, with the majority of school under the purview of the State/UT Governments, her ministry has not identified regional and tribal communities requiring multi-lingual education, or the availability of teachers for such programmes.

Irani further said that the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore has conducted various programmes and developed various materials on Indian languages.

The seven Regional Language Centres provide support to the states and union territories of the country in implementing the three language formula in order to promote national integration through multi-lingual education.

No specific budgetary allocation has been made for multi-lingual education programmes during the current financial year, as such programmes are part of the school education budget. However, an amount of Rs.50 Crore has been allocated for appointment of language teachers.