Honing Multilingualism is Smart

Context:  A salience of India’s National Education Policy (NEP) has been its focus on languages at several stages of education, linking languages in school education to literacy and numeracy attainments.

Multilingualism in National Education Policy:

• Significance of Multilingualism:
• According to NEP sections 4.11to 4.12 children learn quickly when taught in mother tongue and can pick up languages quickly between 2-8 years old.
• The Multilingualism and Multiliteracy in India Research (MultiLila) project research shows an advantage in literacy and numeracy skills for learners who are learning in local language
• English literacy scores, irrespective of the medium of instruction, are lower than other home language.
• Multilingualism and socio-linguistic diversity benefits cognitive skills of learners from monolingual households.
• Complements the Natural Practice: Bilingual and multilingual teaching and learning occur naturally in India’s primary classrooms where teachers help to create awareness among parents, to support learning at home.
• Multilingual Books: Creating high quality bilingual books and teaching learning materials in the home language and English for the teaching of science and mathematics.
• Advantages to the adults:  Beyond the confines of classrooms and informed discussions on language in education policy, multilingualism and multiliteracy have proven clinical advantages for adults as well. 

Conclusion: By strengthening multilingual Education, NEP 2020 could trigger longer-term benefits for India’s young population as they could remain productive in the economy for longer, with lesser dependence on age-related neurological issues.