The Manipur government has not received any official order or instruction from the Centre to include Hindi as compulsory subject till class 10, Director of Education (S) L Nandakumar Singh said on Wednesday.
He was replying to a query raised by the media during a question-and-answer session after speaking on the topic, “NEP 2020 and its impact in Manipur” during the Vartalap Media Workshop organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) at Hotel Classic Grande in Imphal East.
The statement made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee to make Hindi compulsory in all Northeastern states up to class 10 had sparked a lot of controversy in the Northeast region, including Manipur.
Various students, CSOs and political parties had opposed the move to make Hindi compulsory up to class 10.
The director said, “The question of including Hindi as a compulsory subject does not arise as we haven’t received any official order or instructions from any ministry”.
Speaking about the NEP, the director said the budget allotment for education as per the NEP should be six per cent of total Central budget, however, the present budget allotment for education is only three per cent.
As it is well understood that children learn and grasp nontrivial concepts more quickly in their home tongue, the medium of teaching as per the NEP until at least class 5 will be in the local language, he informed.
“The policy proposes the revision and revamping of all aspects of the educational structure, including its regulation and governance, to create a new system that is aligned with the aspiration goals of 21st century education, including Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), while building upon India's traditions and value systems,” he added.
