Following a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directive mandating the use of “mother tongue” or State language at the foundational level, many English-medium schools in Delhi-NCR are now encouraging students and teachers to speak in Hindi and are conducting activities and events in other languages from time to time.

In line with NEP

In May, the CBSE said the mother tongue or a familiar language should be the first language of literacy (R1). It also said that the State language could be R1 if there were practical considerations such as classroom diversity.

The directive was part of the larger effort to align with the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasises on multilingual education.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, said, “Earlier, English-medium schools would teach purely in English. But now, there has been a slight shift in our thoughts, and we have acknowledged that if most families are Hindi-speaking, teachers should teach in Hindi to ensure students understand them completely, especially in the lower classes.”

Ms. Arora, however, said the emphasis is still on English as it is a global language. She said that from this academic year, students are learning Sanskrit as their second language, and foreign languages, which were earlier taught as a second language, are being taught in extra hobby classes.

Most CBSE schools in Delhi-NCR are English medium and offer Hindi, Sanskrit, or Urdu as the second language from Class 1, and a third language from a pool of foreign and local languages from Class 6.

Several principals said most students picked Hindi as their mother tongue during a language-mapping exercise even though they were from various States because their families have been in Delhi for a few generations. Simultaneously, students are being familiarised with other languages through various activities.

‘Informally used’

Urmimala Sudhakar, principal of Summer Fields School, Gurugram, said, “Hindi is being used informally in our school. We are also introducing students to other languages in performing arts classes, dance and music.”

Moupali Mitra, principal of Richmondd Global School in Paschim Vihar, said while they are teaching elementary classes in both Hindi and English, students are introduced to other languages through plays, songs and dance. “During assemblies and zero periods, we are picking one State at a time, and introducing students to phrases in those languages,” she said.

Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said that earlier, too, teachers would explain in Hindi if needed, but there has been a greater focus on bilingualism and multilingualism in the last few months. She also said the school weaves languages of other States into festival celebrations. “For instance, we had a special assembly for the recently concluded Durga Puja celebrations and introduced students to Bangla phrases,” said Ms. Acharya.