Amidst massive protests from southern states over imposition of Hindi in the new education policy recommended by an eight membered panel, the Centre has tweaked the draft.
According to NDTV, in the new draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019, students have the choice of changing any language they want to. Any reference to Hindi has been removed.
“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…,” says the revised draft.
The old version had said Hindi and English would continue to be among the three languages students would study in schools in all states. Thousands, especially in the southern states, had protested what was seen by many as an effort to make Hindi mandatory till Class 8.
In the meanwhile, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu appealed to people to study, analyse and debate the draft NEP and not to come to hasty conclusions. Noting that core issues of education were very important and deserve the attention of all stakeholders, he said reducing the load of school bags, promoting sports, inculcating morals, scientific and rationale temperament, history among others should become part of the curriculum.
HRD recommends 4-year UG courses for new national education policy