National Education Policy draft revised: Hindi not mandatory; Key points

The government unveiled the revised DNEP yesterday in which it dropped the contentious provision of compulsory teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states after the three-language proposal sparked outrage, mainly in Tamil Nadu.

National Education Policy: The Centre on Monday revised the Draft National Education Policy (DNEP) after several states opposed the compulsory teaching of Hindi in schools under the three-language formula. (Representative photo: PTI)

National Education Policy: The Centre on Monday revised the Draft National Education Policy (DNEP) after several states opposed the compulsory teaching of Hindi in schools under the three-language formula. The government unveiled the revised DNEP yesterday in which it dropped the contentious provision of compulsory teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states after the three-language proposal sparked outrage, mainly in Tamil Nadu. The changes in the draft education policy, prepared by Kasturirangan Committee, come amid the swelling protest against what was termed as "imposition of Hindi" on non-Hindi speaking states. The DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu, which had strongly opposed the proposal in the 484-page draft National Education Policy (NEP) to make Hindi a mandatory third language to be taught in schools across the country, welcomed the Centre's decision. • In the earlier draft, the panel proposed mandatory teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states. • The original DNEP, under the heading 'Flexibility in the choice of languages', read: "In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English." • This mandatory clause was met with uproar from politicians and citizens most vociferously in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, who called it an attempt to impose Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking people, ignoring the country's diverse linguistic fabric. • The new DNEP has reworded the para as: "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 Grade 7, so long as they are able to still demonstrate proficiency in three languages (one language at the literature level) in their modular Board Examinations some time during secondary school." • Without mentioning Hindi, the revised draft policy said, "Since the modular Board Examinations for language proficiency will indeed test only for basic proficiency in each language, such a change in language choice in Grade 6 would certainly be feasible if the student so desires and would in such cases be supported by teachers and the schooling system." • The government said that the new changes will enable students to opt for additional languages in middle school. •  According to the revised draft, the modular board examinations for language proficiency would test only basic proficiency in each language. • The DNEP was uploaded on the HRD Ministry's website on Friday to seek recommendations from the public as well as the other states.

Political reactions-

The DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu, which had strongly opposed the proposal in the 484-page draft National Education Policy (NEP) to make Hindi a mandatory third language to be taught in schools across the country, welcomed the Centre's decision. The parties had alleged that the move was tantamount to thrusting the Hindi language on the non-Hindi speaking states. After presiding over a meet of his party district secretaries, MPs, and MLAs, DMK president M K Stalin said in a tweet: "At a time when we are celebrating the birth anniversary of Thalaivar (leader) Kalaignar (late Karunanidhi), the Central government withdrawing the Hindi compulsory subject clause shows that Kalaignar is living." Hours before, the party meet said it would democratically fight tooth and nail any decision that may imperil the two-language formula in force in Tamil Nadu for five decades. A resolution adopted in the meeting said: "This meet categorically states that the DMK will democratically fight tooth and nail any decision that may imperil the two language policy in force in Tamil Nadu." It cautioned the BJP-led government at the Centre to "not play with the sentiments of the Tamil people." The PMK, an ally of the BJP, alleged that the recommendation was for imposition of Hindi and wanted the scrapping of the proposal. Noted music director A R Rahman was quick to laud the revised policy. "Beautiful solution. Hindi is not compulsory in Tamil Nadu. The draft policy has been revised," he tweeted. (With inputs from agencies)