Centre blinks on making Hindi mandatory in schools; to give students choice

Following outrage over a proposal that intended to make Hindi mandatory in schools in non-Hindi speaking states, the ministry of human resource development on Monday revised the draft National Education Policy (NEP), 2019. Deviating from the original suggestion of keeping Hindi as a mandatory subject in all schools, the draft policy now calls for students to choose their subjects in Classes VI or VII.

While the original draft NEP had suggested that students in non-Hindi speaking states would have to study “the regional language, Hindi and English”, in the revised draft, no mention of Hindi or English language can be found. “In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or 7,” the revised draft read.

The ministry further clarified that the policy document submitted by a committee, headed by former chief of Isro K Kasturirangan, is a draft Policy. It “is placed for views of the general public. It is not the policy announced by the government. After getting feedback from the general public, and after consulting state governments, the National Education Policy will be finalised,” the ministry stated.

It also said that at least two rounds of revisions would be effected before the document is adopted as a policy. As per rule, the draft policy would have to be placed for public comments for a duration of 30 days or more before the government begin considerations for required changes.

Despite comments from the new HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and his predecessor Prakash Javadekar, in past few days, that the government is not intended to impose Hindi, political outfits in southern states, like the JD(S), the DMK, and also senior Congress leaders from the region had vented their anger at the suggestion. M K Stalin, president of the DMK, welcomed the changes made on Monday.

Among other suggestions, the draft NEP highlighted the need for a complete overhaul of school education system and setting up of a National Education Commission, or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as an apex body for education to ensure “cohesion and synergy between the multiple dimensions of education”. It suggested restructuring of school education and pedagogy under a 15-year tenure, from 12 years now. The 15-year design includes five years of the foundational stage (up to Class II), three years of the preparatory (Classes III-V), three years of the middle (Classes VI-VII) and four years of the high stage (Classes IX-XII).

Further, a complete overhaul of board examinations, removing distinctions bet-ween different “streams” of study and teacher training programmes have been suggested. It proposes an extension of the Right to Education to students between three and 18 years, from six and fourteen years, currently. 

Also, changing the tenure of undergraduate programmes to four years from three years, promotion of multi-disciplinary education, categorising higher educational institutions on three parameters and the promotion of research through better funding have been highlighted.