Five years into the National Education Policy 2020, India’s multilingual promise faces a global test: how to uphold mother tongue education while equipping learners with English proficiency.
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This essay is part of the series “Five Years of NEP 2020: From Vision to Reality”
With 24.8 crore students, 14.72 lakh schools, 98 lakh teachers, and 22 official languages, the scale and diversity of India’s education system present a formidable challenge. In response to this complexity, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 outlined an ambitious vision: promoting multilingualism by enabling students to learn in their mother tongue while also acquiring proficiency in English and other languages. While conceptually compelling, the practical implementation of such a multilingual framework across a system of this magnitude is far from straightforward.
NEP 2020 had a clear vision: every student should learn three languages - their mother tongue, another Indian language, and English. The policy rightly allowed flexibility to states, avoiding the imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking regions or English in tribal areas. Yet, this flexibility led to uneven implementation. While states like Karnataka advanced mother tongue instruction in early grades, Tamil Nadu outright rejected the three-language formula, citing concerns over autonomy and the central government’s overreach. This has resulted in a patchwork of state-level approaches.
The emphasis on mother tongue education—particularly in the foundational years—is supported by strong research evidence. According to UNESCO, children who begin schooling in their home language are more likely to stay in school and achieve better learning outcomes.
In Karnataka, early-grade children taught in Kannada first and then gradually introduced to English demonstrated stronger reading comprehension and math scores, as reported in early pilot evaluations by the state education department.
Many educationists and parents argue that an overemphasis on the mother tongue without parallel investment in English language development could limit access to higher education and future employment.
However, despite the academic consensus, this approach has drawn criticism. Many educationists and parents argue that an overemphasis on the mother tongue without parallel investment in English language development could limit access to higher education and future employment. English continues to dominate competitive exams, higher education, job applications, and digital resources—where over 50 percent of online content is available in the language. Various surveys across the world have found a strong correlation between English proficiency and higher income levels.
This reveals a deeper tension within Indian education: equity versus aspiration. On one side, multilingual education fosters inclusivity, cultural identity, and better foundational learning, especially for children from tribal and other marginalised communities. On the other, English remains the gateway to socio-economic mobility and global participation. According to the 2022 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), more than 40 percent of students in rural India are unable to read even basic English sentences. This outcome reflects systemic challenges in the availability and preparedness of English language teachers in government schools. The resulting disparity in language acquisition places students from under-resourced settings at a greater disadvantage, limiting their access to academic and professional opportunities.
The way forward lies in balancing both priorities. Multilingual education should not be a binary between mother tongue and English, but a scaffolded approach that introduces both strategically. Policymakers must invest in bilingual pedagogy, teacher training, and early oral language exposure to English—especially in government schools. This would ensure that children not only stay connected to their roots but also gain the linguistic skills needed to participate in a globalised economy.
While NEP 2020 doesn’t dismiss English, it treats it as one of the “three languages” students will learn—without specifying how it should evolve from a school subject to a medium of opportunity.
In reality, English remains the gateway to:
Yet, English instruction in most public schools is stuck at the grammar-translation stage. There is also limited investment in oral language development or functional English—the kind that helps a student confidently answer a college interview or write a job application. Despite the NEP's emphasis on “communication skills,” English continues to be taught to pass exams, not to participate in everyday life.
The real success of NEP 2020's language policy depends on India’s teachers. A truly multilingual education system needs educators who are not only fluent in multiple languages but also know how to teach in a multilingual setting. This involves leveraging a child's existing language knowledge to facilitate the acquisition of new ones. This is where we've seen significant challenges in the last five years.
A truly multilingual education system needs educators who are not only fluent in multiple languages but also know how to teach in a multilingual setting.
Many teachers, especially in government and rural schools, haven't received sufficient training in teaching English or in managing classrooms with diverse language backgrounds. In-service training modules rarely include bilingual pedagogy or techniques for teaching English as a second language.
Most teachers were never taught to teach language functionally—to help students use English, not just learn it. Even flagship programmes like the National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) have limited, one-size-fits-all English modules that don’t cater to diverse linguistic contexts.
India must commit to bridging the gap between policy vision and classroom practice with urgency and innovation. This entails sustained investment in teacher development, the integration of technology to support multilingual pedagogy, and systemic reforms that align assessment with real-world language use. Most importantly, we must foreground the needs of learners—particularly those from underserved communities—whose educational and economic trajectories hinge on equitable access to both local languages and global competencies.
The recently released National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023) reinforces the integration of mother tongue instruction in early years and promotes bilingual content across subjects to strengthen comprehension and fluency.
The Ministry of Education’s National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat), launched in 2021, is the flagship programme to implement the National Mission for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. It aims to ensure that every child attains foundational learning by Grade 3 by 2026–27. As part of this, teacher capacity-building and multilingual materials development are being prioritised. Furthermore, the recently released National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023) reinforces the integration of mother tongue instruction in early years and promotes bilingual content across subjects to strengthen comprehension and fluency.
On the technology front, the government’s National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) is expected to support state-level innovations, including AI-powered platforms for teacher training and multilingual content access. Initiatives such as the Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) and PM eVidya are being scaled to include regionally adapted, bilingual resources that serve both teachers and learners.
The success of NEP 2020’s multilingual vision will not be measured merely by policy adoption, but by the confidence of a rural child reading in their mother tongue, the fluency of a first-generation learner expressing themselves in English, and the cultural integrity preserved in every classroom. Shaping a multilingual India involves not only enriching education but also redefining the very foundations of equity and opportunity. The stakes are high—and the time to act is now.
Namita Goel is a passionate education entrepreneur and learning strategist with 15+ years of designing impactful and scalable learning experiences across age groups and geographies.
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Namita Goel is a passionate education entrepreneur and learning strategist with 15+ years of designing impactful and scalable learning experiences across age groups and geographies. ...
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