Context:

After the release of the New Education Policy 2020, the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu protested against the policy accusing it of imposing Hindi and Sanskrit.

The ‘three language formula’

• The National Education Policy 2020 has ‘emphasized’ on the use of mother tongue or local language as the medium of instruction till Class 5 while, recommending its continuance till Class 8 and beyond.
• The formula means that students in Hindi-speaking states should learn a modern Indian language, apart from Hindi and English and, in non-Hindi-speaking states, Hindi along with the regional language and English.
  • First language: The First Language that students should study is the ‘Mother tongue’ or the regional language
  • Second language: In Hindi-speaking states, the second language would be English or some other language belonging to Modern India. In Non-Hindi states, the second language will be English or Hindi. s
  • Third language: In Hindi-speaking states, the third language would be English or some other language belonging to Modern India, but the one that is not chosen as the second language. In Non-Hindi states, the third language will be English or some other language belonging to Modern India, but the one which is not chosen as the second language.

Constitutional provisions

• Currently, the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution contains 22 official languages-Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
• Article 346 of the Indian Constitution recognizes ‘Hindi’ in the ‘Devanagari’ script as the official language of Union government India.
• However, the Constitution did not declare Hindi as the National language, it rather accorded Hindi the status of ‘official language’ along with English. Article 350A:
• Article 350A of the Constitution deals with the facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at the primary stage.
• It shall be the endeavor of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.

Article 351:

• Article 351 provides a directive for the development of the Hindi language.
• It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.