Downgrade English, scrap texts that insult Indian culture: RSS wing to HRD
New Delhi: In a move that could spark a fresh controversy, the education wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) has asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to see to it that English in no longer mandatory and that the mother tongue should become the medium of primary instruction across schools in India.
According to an The Indian Express report, the RSS affiliate has made a few more recommendations for the new education policy and said that any references that insult Indian culture or eminent personalities in textbooks should be scrapped.
The SSUN also suggested that the HRD make it compulsory for research scholars to link their thesis with “national requirements” and those who fail to do so should not be given UGC scholarships.
Leaders of the RSS wing had met HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar with their recommendations and an official of their outfit said that the minister had taken note of their suggestions. A SSUN official said that Javadekar said their ideas would be discussed during the drafting of the new education policy.
The SSUN wants English to be gradually removed as the primary medium of instruction in both private and government educational institutes and wants Indian languages to be given more credence.
They asked the HRD ministry to “immediately provide facilities to introduce education in Indian languages in English-medium institutions like IIT, IIM and NIT” and asked for legal action against those that do not let students speak their mother tongue.
Many English medium schools and colleges in India prohibit students from communicating with each other in any other language except English and in some schools students are even asked to pay a fine or handed out punishments for speaking their mother tongue. The RSS seems to want to change that completely and is demanding that English be downgraded to a secondary language in all schools.
SSUN founder and secretary Atul Kothari told The Indian Express that Javadekar assured them that his ministry would consider their recommendation and even “appreciated many suggestions.”
