NEP follows Mahatma Gandhi's "Nai Talim" in terms of mother tongue: Vice President

Vice President recalled that the "Nai Talim" proposed by Mahatma Gandhi laid emphasis on making mother tongue as the medium of instruction in addition to free compulsory education and skill training to the students.

The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu today said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at school level.

Addressing the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha today, the Vice President recalled that the "Nai Talim" proposed by Mahatma Gandhi in Wardha in 1937 laid emphasis on making mother tongue as the medium of instruction in addition to free compulsory education and skill training to the students.

Naidu said that our Constituent Assembly, after a long debate, accepted Hindi as the official language and also accorded constitutional status to other Indian languages ​​in the Eighth Schedule. Noting that every Indian language has a glorious history and rich literature, he said "We are fortunate to have linguistic diversity in our country. Our linguistic diversity is our strength as our languages ​​symbolize our cultural unity."

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi's views on language, the Vice President said that for Mahatma Gandhi, the question of language was a question of national unity. He further observed that even after insisting on Hindi, Mahatma Gandhi understood the sensitivity of every citizen to his mother tongue. Gandhiji associated mother tongue with Swaraj and called for according due importance to it, he said. He also said that Indian languages ​​have played an important role in keeping the overseas Indian community connected with the motherland India.

The Vice President said that it is expected of a civilized society that its language should be gentle, cultured and creative. "Let us exercise our freedom of expression with the decency of language and the discipline of words,” he said.

Dedicating the Amar Krantikari Chandrashekhar Azad Hostel, the Vice President wanted the younger generation to be made aware of the courage and sacrifices of our heroic freedom fighters. He appealed to the youth to rise above cast, creed, gender and region and work for strengthening the unity of the nation.

Praising the achievements of the Wardha University, Naidu said that the University has made available many famous works of Hindi literature online, helping the readers sitting in distant countries access authentic Hindi literature.

In this context, he wanted that the literature of other Indian languages ​​should also be made available online with its Hindi translation.

Mahatma Gandhi International University, Wardha is teaching foreign languages ​​like French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese etc. in Hindi medium. Expressing happiness over this, Shri Naidu called for extending this facility for other Indian languages ​​also so that Hindi students can also learn other Indian languages.

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