VP bats for education in mother tongue till Class 5

“Learning in mother tongue will help young minds to grasp concepts easily and help them to express themselves,” he said at the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Dharmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty at Centenary Auditorium in University of Madras here. Stating that the government was in the process of finalising the New Education Policy, he said it’s vision was to provide an India-centred education system that contributes directly to transforming the nation into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing high quality education to all.

The draft policy encourages philanthropic institutions in the field of school education. It said, “Private philanthropic schools must be encouraged and freed of regulatory overload.” It is a commendable objective that must be pursued by all the stakeholders in education with earnestness, Naidu said.

Advocating for the local language up to Class 5, the Vice President said that the draft policy proposes to encourage use of Indian languages in education, by providing quality books in Indian languages and recruiting more teachers wherever feasible. “Language is the medium of expression of our thoughts and emotions. Every Indian language is venerable. The literature in each language is rich and varied,” he said.

“We should learn as many languages as possible without neglecting our own mother tongue. Our languages can bring us together. They will help us increase our own knowledge and wider appreciation of diverse ideas,” Naidu said.

Naidu said the values of charity, empathy, compassion and voluntarism should be imbibed in students from an early age. Schools and educational institutions must empower students to grow into ideal citizens of the society, who would be responsive and responsible towards larger community.

“Schools must become resource centres for the local community and they should engage in voluntary community work and must focus on issues like social and gender justice, family health, cleanliness, child labour, environmental protection and preservation of natural resources,” he added.