Long overdue, India’s National Education Policy (NEP) revises the fundamental ideas that have guided the country’s educational system since independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceived it. It suggests a new system based on the logic of Indian civilisation, the variety of Indian languages, and constitutional necessities, rather than intellectual subservience to the colonial and postcolonial frameworks that have underpinned our institutions. This is more than just a curriculum modification or a tweak to the way the government handles things in a country like India, which aspires to be both internationally competitive and securely rooted. It represents a thorough revamping of the educational system.

For a while, most Indian schoolchildren were unable to read or write, and even fewer had access to the knowledge systems developed over centuries, which led to significant improvements in logic, philosophy, maths, and language. A tiny group of colonial elites trained to serve the empire employed the framework they gave us. On top of that, they imposed a communist command and control paradigm. For the sake of national unity, this system promoted academic qualifications over vocational training, limiting regional freedom.

Modi’s NEP is exceptional in its brazen and unrepentant departure from history as a government document. It recognises that no democratic nation-state, much less civilisation, can be successfully served by an educational system that ignores its citizens’ languages, cultures, and life experiences. By prioritising mother-tongue education in early life, the NEP reinforces the neurobiological and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and mother-language instruction, which have been reliably related to more recent research. The majority of........

© News18