The National Education Policy 2020 is an important document in this direction. This policy clearly states that wherever possible, the medium of higher education should be mother tongue or local language. This is not an emotional appeal, but a suggestion based on educational research. UNESCO has established in its several studies that not only in early years but also at higher levels, education in mother tongue leads to deeper conceptual understanding. When a student has to first translate a complex theory in his mind and then understand it, a large part of his cognitive energy is spent only in understanding the language. If the same theory is available in his mother tongue, that energy is directly invested in analysis of knowledge.
The ground reality of India strengthens this argument further. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education, AISHE, the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education in the country is still around 28 to 29 percent. This means that about 70 percent of youth in the age group of 18 to 23 years are still outside the ambit of higher education. There are many reasons for this, in which economic and social reasons are prominent, but language works as an invisible barrier. Most students in the country come after studying in their mother tongue from state boards till Class 12. Suddenly at undergraduate level when the medium of instruction becomes completely English, a large section of them feels isolated. Hesitation in asking questions in class, difficulty in writing answers and lack of confidence are results of this language shift.
It is often argued that books of technical and high-level knowledge are not available in Indian languages. This argument could have been somewhat valid till a decade ago, but today it has lost its relevance. The All India Council for Technical Education, AICTE, has in the last few years initiated providing engineering education in 12 Indian languages. For this, original English books have been translated and this material has been made available on platforms like e-KUMBH. The University Grants Commission has also issued grants and guidelines for preparing curriculum in Indian languages in many universities.
Now the role of artificial intelligence has become decisive in this. Today translation is no longer just conversion of words. AI based tools translate with context, preserve technical terminology and its vetting by subject experts is also possible at a much faster pace. Efforts like the National Translation Mission are already working in this direction. In such a situation, saying that books are not available, therefore education cannot be given in mother tongue, becomes a weak argument in the age of technology. The time and resources that will be required to prepare books will be far less than the time and resources that lakhs of students collectively spend every year only in trying to master English as a medium. If the same collective effort is invested in content creation, the result will be permanent.
Here it is necessary to clarify that education in mother tongue does not mean boycott of English. Knowledge of English today is essential for global research, employment and international dialogue. Therefore English should be taught as a strong subject, so that students can become proficient in it. But it is not appropriate to put a lock on the door of knowledge by making English the medium. This is the fundamental difference between medium and subject which needs to be understood. Medium is that which makes the path to knowledge easy, while a subject is a skill. When we make English the medium, we unknowingly punish those students who did not have access to expensive English medium schools.
There is also a deep democratic and economic aspect of education in mother tongue. A large part of India’s economy is still connected to agriculture, small industries and local markets. If a youth who has received higher education acquires technical knowledge in his own language, he can directly apply that knowledge in his community and local economy. If a student of agricultural science learns soil science or water management in his mother tongue, he can reach it more effectively to the farmers of his district. The same applies in the field of medicine, law and management. If legal education is in local language, access to justice in rural areas will become easier.
Examples are often given that countries like Japan, Germany, France, Russia and China have achieved scientific and industrial progress by getting education in their mother tongue itself. There students learn from childhood till the highest technology in their own language and learn English as an additional language. The result is that their knowledge penetrates deep into their society. India also has the same capability. We have had rich literature and scientific tradition in 22 scheduled languages. The need is only to connect that tradition with modern curriculum.
The pace of development is directly related to the quality of human resources. If only 10 percent of the country who know English get ease in higher education and 90 percent struggle due to language, then a large part of national talent remains underdeveloped. Education in mother tongue can correct this imbalance. This will increase the number of students asking fundamental questions in the classroom, bring new perspectives in research and innovation will be connected to local problems. When a student will be free to think in his own language, only then will he be able to create instead of memorizing.
Therefore higher education in mother tongue is not a return to backwardness, but a practical step towards the future. It is an attempt to bring students from poor, deprived and rural backgrounds onto an equal platform. Let English remain open as a window through which we can see the world, but the foundation of the house should be strong in our own languages. Only then higher education will be able to come out of being a convenience for a few people and become an engine of development for the whole country.
