The National Education Policy 2020 has placed a strong emphasis on multilingual and multicultural education for children in India, with the push for digital learning for students of classes 1 to 12 in 36 languages, including four foreign languages, Minister of State for Education, Annpurna Devi Yadav said on Wednesday.
NCERT has initiated the development of National Curriculum Frameworks in the area of Early Childhood Care and Education, School Education, Teacher Education and Adult Education, the minister said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that
As many as 25 themes have been drawn from NEP 2020, on which the focus groups at the state and the national levels have been constituted, she said, adding that the themes included Language Education, Knowledge of India and Value Education a,ong others.
NCERT textbooks are prepared in three medium of instruction namely English, Hindi and Urdu, she pointed out, saying states and UTs adopt NCERT textbooks according to the local needs or translate the contents of textbooks in their medium of instruction.
Textbooks and other reading materials are prepared as subject in four languages Hindi, English, Urdu and Sanskrit.
Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing for School Education (DIKSHA) - a Digital learning resources consists of e-learning content for students of grades 1 to 12 in 36 languages (32 Indian Languages and 4 Foreign Language), she said.
NCERT has also undertaken initiatives to introduce children to a multilingual and multicultural environment, the minister said. The initiatives are:
1. Under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat - Bhashasangam programme has been initiated for the familiarisation and promotion of Mother tongues and Indian Languages.
2. The existing textual materials in languages include good translations of stories from Indian Languages; which ensures exposure to the multicultural character of the society.
