Union Minister says Centre not forcing language on states, rebuffs political claims

Chennai, Sept 22: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the Centre was not imposing any language on anybody.

He termed those who claim that the Centre imposes the three-language policy on States as "politically motivated".

"We are not imposing any language on anybody. For class 1 and 2, there will be two-language formula. One will be mother tongue. Here, it will be Tamil language. Government of India's condition is that you have to teach in Tamil in primary school. You can teach another language that is your choice," he said.

Pradhan was speaking to reporters in the presence of professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT-Madras, after taking part in the 'Think India Dakshinapatha Summit 2025'.

Elaborating about the three-language policy, he said that from class 6 to 10 there is three-language formula. "One language will be mother tongue. The rest two will be your choice. No language will be imposed by the Government of India on any State," he said.

To a query about how the three-language policy is being implemented in a State like Uttar Pradesh, he said, "We are implementing it in that State also. Many State governments, forget BJP-ruled States, are implementing three-language policy, prior to National Education Policy."

"In Uttar Pradesh, a student will learn Hindi, as mother tongue. After that, they may opt for learning Marathi and Tamil also. Some students in UP can take Tamil as a third language. The UP government has to provide the facility to teach. Tamil," he said.

Pointing out that only 10 per cent of India's population. speak in English, he said rest of the population prefer to speak in their mother tongue.

He quoted Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's comments that he would encourage Telugu-speaking students to learn as many as 10 languages so that every Telugu boy would become "globally competitive" and they would be proficient in different languages.

"Language is always a facilitator. Those with politically narrow ideas are creating this problem," Pradhan said.

Referring to his past visits to Tamil Nadu, the minister said, "I have toured all part of Tamil Nadu. It is essentially a linguistic State. I am Odia. I am very proud of my Odia language. But I am also proud of other Indian languages."

Skill-based learning: The government is considering to add skill-based learning in the curriculum of class 11 and 12 as per the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020, Pradhan said.

The Union Education Minister said there has to be a paradigm shift in learning methodology at the appropriate level and the National Education Policy 2020 was recommending it.

"We are on the job to introduce skill-based curriculum in class 11 and 12," he said at an event at the IIT- Madras here.

Elaborating about the concept of including skill-based learning in the curriculum, Pradhan said the earlier education system was certificate and degree-focused.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly said we need degree and certification but we need to make the students competent also," he said. "One of the primary recommendation of the NEP 2020 is skill-based education. " he said.

PTI