CBSE places a strong emphasis on teaching kids in their native language

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) circulated the Notice on 7th May 2024 to its CBSE official website stating the “Availability of Entry-Level Primers for Mother Tongues/Local Languages/Home Languages”. CBSE has mandated that instructional materials emphasize mother language learning and promote multilingual education in all of its schools.

This is an extension of Circular No. Acad-84/2023, issued 21st July 2023, on “Multilingual Education and Using Mother Tongue as a Medium of Instruction,” in which the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) made significant strides to support multilingual education across the nation and permitted schools to provide instruction in Indian language beginning in pre-primary.

The National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage-2022 and the National Education Policy 2020 place a strong emphasis on teaching and learning in the children’s mother tongue, home language, local language, or regional language.

Understanding the importance of maintaining linguistic diversity as stated in the policy documents mentioned above, NCERT and the Indian Institute of Languages (IIL) have worked together to create a set of 52 entry-level primers (Praveshikayein) that are appropriate for speakers of different mother tongues and regional languages throughout India. These primers are designed to help youngsters learn and become proficient in language at a young age, especially if school does not offer education in their home tongue or the language of their community.

Therefore, Schools are urged to encourage instructors and students to use these primers in order to help them acquire high language proficiency in their mother tongue.