This is an archive article published on February 3, 2024

Opinion Express View on CBSE’s language plan: Learning and faultlines

A wealth of scholarship has underlined that knowledge of multiple languages improves learning outcomes and helps skill acquisition. At the same time, the three-language formula remains a politically fraught issue, especially in South India, which has a long history of language-based sub-nationalism.

CBSE academic framework, CBSE board Students, native Indian languages, National Education Policy, NEP 2020, skill development, CBSE combine academic training, vocational education, NEP implementation, Indian express news

The CBSE has not specified a time-frame for rolling out the new system. The agency must hold wide consultations before finalising its plan. It must ensure that all sensitivities are respected and old faultlines are not reopened.

By: Editorial

February 3, 2024 12:58 PM IST First published on: Feb 3, 2024 at 07:00 AM IST

According to a report in this newspaper, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed a major overhaul in the academic framework for secondary and higher secondary education. Students will be required to study three languages — instead of two — till Class X, at least two of which must be native Indian languages. At the higher secondary level, students will have to study two languages instead of one, at least one of which must be a native Indian language.

Secondary-level students will now have to clear 10 subjects, as opposed to the current requirement of five. Graduating from high school will require clearing six subjects, instead of five. The shift is in accordance with NEP 2020’s objective of doing away with the rigid separation between academic and extracurricular streams. A credit bank system will ensure that the student is rewarded for skills obtained outside the classroom.

The CBSE’s plan gives the learner the space to combine academic training with vocational education. It is, therefore, a welcome departure from pedagogic strategies that have contributed to the country’s skill deficit by devaluing hands-on training. The examination authority must, however, make sure that the new system does not impose an extra burden on already stretched students.

A wealth of scholarship has underlined that knowledge of multiple languages improves learning outcomes and helps skill acquisition. At the same time, the three-language formula remains a politically fraught issue, especially in South India, which has a long history of language-based sub-nationalism. The Tamil Nadu government, for instance, has opposed the NEP even though the policy does not require non-Hindi-speaking states to include the language in school curricula.

Linguistic activists in the state fear the implementation of the three-language formula could push schools to teach Hindi because of the scarcity of teachers in other languages. When it was first framed in 1968, the formula envisaged teaching a modern Indian language, apart from Hindi and English till Class VIII in schools in North India. But Hindi-speaking states have never had more than a handful of schools with teachers who can teach Malayalam, Kannada or Tamil — or, for that matter, Bengali, Marathi or Gujarati. The CBSE’s proposal should occasion conversations on finding a greater play for the country’s linguistic diversity in school curricula.