New education policy follows Mahatma Gandhi’s “Nai Talim” in terms of mother tongue: Vice President

What is the news?

The Vice President of India recently 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.

He was speaking at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University.

What is Nai Talim of Mahatma Gandhi?

The phrase Nai Talim is a combination of two words- Nai Means ‘New’ and Talim – a Urdu word-means ‘Education’. 

Mahatma Gandhi introduced the concept of Nai Talim in 1937.

The concept laid emphasis on making mother tongue as the medium of instruction in addition to free compulsory education and skill training to the students.

The concept was based on four basic principles:

– Education or learning in mother tongue along with handicraft work

– Work should be linked with most useful vocational needs of the locality

– Learning should be linked with vocational work and

– Work should be socially useful and productive. 

About Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University 

It was established to fulfil a dream of Mahatma Gandhi. He was of the firm opinion that Hindi should not only be the national language of the country, but it should also gain the status of a world language

The dream of Gandhi was reflected in the resolutions passed by the First World Hindi Conference organized in Nagpur in the year 1975. 

The first resolution demanded Hindi to be made one of the official languages of the United Nations Organisation and the second resolved to establish an International Hindi University at Wardha.

Subsequently, the University was established by a bill passed by the Parliament in 1997

Source:This post is based on the article ‘New education policy follows Mahatma Gandhi’s “Nai Talim” in terms of mother tongue: Vice President’ published in PIB on 5^th Jan 2022.