Wardha (Maharashtra): Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday 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, 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, Naidu 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.
