CBSE's First-Language Approach to Teaching Is Spot On

Criticism Aimed at the Board's Directive on Mother-Tongue Use for Early Education Is Misguided

- ANURAG BEHAR

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a directive on 22 May. A few newspaper editorials and opinion pieces criticized this directive, but these were profoundly misleading.

Since the criticism was leveled at the CBSE directive to introduce teaching in the mother tongue of students in primary classes, let's first examine what the notice actually says. It states that the first language of literacy—denoted as R1 or the language in which the child first learns to read and write—should be the child's mother tongue.

If that is impractical due to the presence of children with different mother tongues in the same classroom, the children's next most familiar language—often the most widely used local language—should be used. In short, children should learn to read and write first in a language they already know.

The CBSE circular further clarifies that R1 should naturally serve as the medium of instruction for other subjects, including literacy in a second language (R2). It adds that once a child gains literacy in both R1 and R2, either language could be used for teaching other subjects.