New Delhi: National Education Policy, 2020 has placed a strong emphasis on multilingual and multicultural education. NCERT has initiated the development of National Curriculum Frameworks in the area of Early Childhood Care and Education, School Education, Teacher Education and Adult Education. In this regard, 25 themes have been drawn from NEP 2020, on which the focus groups at the state and the National levels have been constituted. These themes include- Language Education, Knowledge of India, Value Education, etc. Further, NCERT prepares textbooks in three medium of instruction namely English, Hindi & Urdu. The States/UTs adopt or adapt NCERT textbooks according to the local needs or translate the contents of textbooks in their medium of instruction. Textbooks and other reading materials are prepared as subject in four languages Hindi, English, Urdu & Sanskrit. In addition, Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing for School Education (DIKSHA) – a Digital learning resources consists of e-learning content for students of grades 1 to 12 in 36 Languages(32 Indian Languages and 4 Foreign Language).
Besides, NCERT has undertaken the following initiatives to introduce children to a multilingual and multicultural environment – Under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat – Bhashasangam programme has been initiated for the familiarisation and promotion of Mother tongues and Indian Languages. The existing textual materials in languages include good translations of stories from Indian Languages; which ensures exposure to the multicultural character of the society.
The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Smt. Annpurna Devi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
