Section 29(2)(f) of the RTE Act specifies that when designing curricula and evaluation procedures for elementary education, the medium of instruction should, as far as practical, be the child’s mother tongue. Additionally, the NEP recommends teaching children in their mother tongue or local language at least until Grade V, and preferably until Grade VIII.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Constitution, along with the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the National Education Policy (NEP), calls for primary education to be provided to linguistic minorities in their mother tongues.
The Supreme Court bench, led by Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, agreed to hear the petition and asked for a response from the Rajasthan state government.
However, governments are limiting the recruitment of teachers to only 22 scheduled languages, leaving millions of children who speak over 100 different languages deprived of the right to learn in their native languages. Many of these languages have a rich written heritage but are not represented in the education system.
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On Friday (10th Jan), a scholar advocating for the ‘Rajasthani’ language, which is spoken by more than four crore people, brought this issue before the Supreme Court.
Representing Padam Mehta, senior advocate Manish Singhvi argued that the constitutional mandate and relevant laws are being violated because individuals proficient in ‘Rajasthani’ are not being recruited to teach primary and elementary students.
Singhvi stated, “If teachers speaking ‘Rajasthani’ are not recruited, imparting of education in ‘Mother Tongue’ loses significance.”
BRIEF:
The petitioner emphasized that not hiring teachers proficient in the ‘Rajasthani’ language violates children’s fundamental right to receive education in their mother tongue.
He pointed out that although ‘Rajasthani’ is widely spoken, it has been excluded from the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET), whereas other languages like Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Urdu, spoken by smaller populations in the state, have been included.
Section 29(2)(f) of the RTE Act specifies that when designing curricula and evaluation procedures for elementary education, the medium of instruction should, as far as practical, be the child’s mother tongue. Additionally, the NEP recommends teaching children in their mother tongue or local language at least until Grade V, and preferably until Grade VIII.
Apart from the 22 scheduled languages, India is home to 23 other languages spoken by millions of people. These include Awadhi, Bagri, Bhili, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, Deccani, Kangri, Garhwali, Haryanvi, Ho, Kanauji, Khandeshi, Kumaoni, Kurux, Lamani, Magahi, Malvi, Marwari, Meitei, Mundari, Nimadi, Sadari, and Tulu. However, speakers of these languages are not given access to education in their mother tongues.
The Union Ministry of Education defines ‘mother tongue’ as the language spoken by a person’s mother during childhood. If the mother passed away during infancy, the language primarily spoken in the home during childhood is considered the mother tongue.
The petitioner highlighted that more than 20 years ago, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed a resolution to include ‘Rajasthani’ in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Despite this, no significant steps have been taken to implement this change. Advocates for the language argue that its inclusion would ensure recruitment of teachers and provide children the opportunity to learn in their native language.
“The mandate of the Constitution and other statutes are being violated as no person proficient in ‘Rajasthani’ is recruited to teach primary or elementary school students,”
said Singhvi.
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