Multilingual Education and NEP 2020: Challenges and Opportunities

Published Paper PDF: View PDF

Kavita Chawla

Independent Researcher

Punjab, India

Abstract

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 positions multilingualism as a cornerstone of foundational learning reform in India, urging that the home language/mother tongue/local or regional language be the medium of instruction at least until Grade 5, and preferably through Grade 8 and beyond, wherever feasible. This emphasis aligns with international research demonstrating that early-grade learning in a familiar language improves conceptual clarity, retention, and long-term academic performance; it also resonates with India’s constitutional commitment to linguistic pluralism. Despite strong policy intent, the pathway from recommendation to classroom practice is uneven across states because of teacher language capacity gaps, shortages of grade-appropriate multilingual materials, parental demand for English, and complex local language ecologies—particularly in tribal, migrant, or mixed-lingual urban classrooms. Recent implementation accelerants—NIPUN Bharat for Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN), large-scale digital content distribution via the DIKSHA platform (30+ Indian languages), and state-led bilingual pilots in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and elsewhere—demonstrate scalable strategies but also reveal digital divides and training deficits. This mixed-methods study integrates a survey of 150 educators across five linguistically diverse Indian states and semi-structured interviews with 12 policy and curriculum experts to examine readiness, attitudinal alignment, and infrastructure for multilingual rollout under NEP 2020. Quantitative findings show low but regionally variable preparedness; qualitative evidence underscores the catalytic role of community co-creation of materials, flexible language pathways, and technology-supported bridging when teacher language proficiency is limited. Policy-aligned recommendations target teacher education restructuring, multilingual resource pipelines, state-level implementation dashboards, and participatory community language mapping to operationalize NEP 2020’s multilingual promise at classroom scale.

Keywords

Multilingual Education, NEP 2020, Mother-Tongue Instruction, Policy Implementation, India

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Recent Policy / Implementation Sources
Ministry of Education & NCERT. (2022). National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage. Government of India. NCERT