Should a third language be compulsory?

(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 10)

Background

• The Union government has linked compliance with the policy to the release of funds under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

• The Tamil Nadu government views this as an attempt to impose Hindi and insists on continuing with its two-language policy of Tamil and English.

Constitutional Provisions

• Hindi is the official language of the Union, while English continues to be used for official purposes under the Official Languages Act, 1963.

• States can adopt Hindi or any regional language as their official language.

• The Constitution mandates the Union to promote Hindi as a medium of expression across India.

The Three-Language Formula

• Introduced in the 1968 NEP, the policy mandated Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states, leading to protests in Tamil Nadu.

• Tamil Nadu has continued with its two-language policy.

• NEP 2020 retains the three-language formula but allows states, regions, and students to choose their languages, provided at least two are native to India.

Challenges in Education

• The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) highlights poor learning outcomes among students.

• In 2022, 60% of Class V students could not read a Class II-level text.

• In 2023, 25% of youth (14-18 years) struggled with reading in their regional language, while over 40% could not read English sentences.

• Foundational numeracy skills like subtraction and division remain weak.

Financial Constraints in Education

• According to the Ministry of Education (2022), 85% of elementary education expenditure is borne by states, while the Centre contributes 15%.

• Total education spending (elementary, secondary, higher, and technical) is around 4-4.5% of GDP, below the NEP target of 6%.

Way Forward

• English proficiency has helped India’s global competitiveness, but improving teaching in the mother tongue and foundational numeracy is crucial.

• Private schools teach a third language until Standard VIII, but student proficiency remains limited.

• The 2011 Census shows 26% of Indians are bilingual and 7% trilingual, with higher rates in urban areas.

• Urbanization and migration will likely increase multilingualism in future Censuses.

• Constructive dialogue is needed between the Centre and states to ensure timely funding.

• Greater autonomy for states in school education policy should be considered.