Following the Indian government’s recent adoption of a National Education Policy recommending teaching in “mother tongue or local language” rather than English “where possible,” its architect clarified that the policy was “not mandatory.”
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, chancellor of the Central University of Rajasthan and NIIT University, told Outlook magazine that the policy has, “given all the flexibility to the schools, the States and the parents, as well as the community, to decide what they teach in what language. We have not prevented learning in English. If they want to do it at the beginning itself or later, no problem.”
Kasturirangan’s comments came shortly before India’s Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal participated in the virtual launch ceremony for EnglishPro, a free English language teaching app, at the English and Foreign Languages University, which developed the app.
