The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has allowed its affiliated schools to offer education in Indian languages right from pre-primary to Class XII.

“The CBSE affiliated schools may consider using Indian languages, as enumerated in the Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution, as the medium of instruction from Foundation stage till end of Secondary Stage i.e. from pre-primary classes till class XII as an optional medium in addition to other existing options,” the CBSE said in a circular issued on Friday.

“Multilingual education has been widely recognised as a valuable approach to fostering linguistic diversity, cultural understanding, and academic success among students. The National Education Policy 2020 emphasises the significant cognitive advantages of multilingualism for young learners, particularly when they are exposed to multiple languages from foundational stage, with a specific focus on their mother tongue. The policy strongly advocates for utilising the home language, mother tongue, local language, or regional language as the medium of instruction whenever feasible, at least until Grade 5, but preferably extending till Grade 8 and beyond,” the circular reads.

“One of the major steps taken now is the direction by the Ministry of Education to NCERT for preparing new textbooks through 22 scheduled Indian languages. The NCERT has taken this serious task on highest priority so that textbooks in 22 scheduled languages can be made available to all students from the sessions,” the circular added.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan lauded the CBSE’s decision and said in a tweet, “Well-done CBSE. This is a laudatory step towards encouraging education in mother tongue and Indian languages in schools. #NEPInAction”