Bid To Improve Learning Outcomes And Reduce Knowledge Gaps
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-01-19 16:20:54
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
On Friday, the Union education ministry issued a statement that the government has directed all schools and higher education institutions to provide study material for every course in Indian languages digitally within the next three years. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, had envisioned that "steps shall be taken towards developing high-quality higher education institutions both public and private that have medium of instruction in local/Indian languages or bilingually". The Centre's directive is a step in that direction. The aim is to provide students with the opportunity to study in their own language.
In an order issued on Friday, the education ministry directed all school and higher education regulators such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Council of Educational Research and Training, National Institute of Open Schooling, Indira Gandhi National Open University, and heads of Institutes of National Importance, Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institute Of Technology, and other Central Universities to make study material in Indian languages available for all courses in the next three years.
Unesco has said that 'research shows that education in the mother tongue is a key factor for inclusion and quality learning, and it also improves learning outcomes and academic performance'. It also said that 'this is crucial.....to avoid knowledge gaps and increase the speed of learning and comprehension'. In a bid to avoid knowledge gaps and improve understanding of subject matter, the NEP 2020 had laid stress on developing Indian language or bilingual medium of instruction in higher education institutions. This has now been extended to schools too, which is welcome.
But the problem will be in finding teachers who can explain in the Indian language the student is comfortable with as most schools, at least in urban areas, and higher education institutions will have students from all corners of India many of whom will have different mother tongues. Even if study material is made available to students in Indian languages, it will largely be restricted to self-study with little recourse to guidance in that language from teachers. Hence, along with digital delivery of study material, students must be provided with digital channels in Indian languages to clear their doubts.
