One of NEP 2020’s most debated recommendations is also among its most research-backed: children should learn in their mother tongue or home language at least till Class 5, preferably till Class 8. Mother-tongue teaching under NEP has triggered anxiety among English-medium parents who fear their children will lose the English edge — and enthusiasm among educators who have watched children struggle for years in languages they do not speak at home. The policy does not ban English; it proposes bilingual classrooms where the home language carries early learning and English is built systematically alongside. Here is how that actually works.

What the research says

Decades of global research converge on one finding: children learn to read, think and understand concepts best in the language they speak at home. When Class 1 children are taught in an unfamiliar language, they memorise sounds without meaning — the root of India’s reading crisis. Studies across Africa, Latin America and India show that mother-tongue instruction in early years produces better literacy, better numeracy and, counterintuitively, better English later, because strong first-language literacy transfers to second-language learning. The policy’s critics raise fair practical objections, but on the cognitive science, the consensus is unusually clear.

How bilingual classrooms work in practice

The model is not mother-tongue-only but structured bilingualism. In early years, teachers explain concepts in the children’s home language while introducing English vocabulary alongside — a science lesson might be taught in Marathi with key English terms explicitly taught. As children progress, English takes a larger share through a planned transition, with both languages used purposefully rather than mixed randomly. Techniques include translanguaging — strategically using both languages to build understanding — bilingual textbooks with parallel text, and dedicated English-as-a-second-language periods focused on speaking and reading. The goal is additive bilingualism: strong in both languages, not weak in each.

What changes for English-medium parents

• Schools will use more of the regional language in Classes 1-5 explanations, while English remains a strong subject and progressively a medium.
• Children’s conceptual understanding typically improves — they actually understand the maths and science instead of memorising English sentences about them.
• English outcomes depend on quality of English teaching, not on banning other languages; demand strong English instruction rather than English-only instruction.
• Bilingual children gain cognitive advantages — research links bilingualism to better executive function and attention control.
• Home support matters: reading to children in any language builds the literacy foundation English later draws on.

Implementation challenges

The obstacles are formidable. India has 22 scheduled languages and hundreds of mother tongues; producing quality textbooks and training teachers in each is a mammoth task. Urban classrooms are linguistically mixed — a Mumbai classroom may hold Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil speakers — making single-medium mother-tongue teaching impractical; multilingual strategies are the answer but need teacher skill. Teacher capacity is the binding constraint: most teachers were themselves taught in English-medium systems and need retraining in bilingual pedagogy. And parental demand for English-medium remains intense, creating pressure on schools to signal English-ness regardless of pedagogy. States are moving at different speeds, with several developing bilingual materials.

What parents should do

Do not panic about English: ensure your child reads daily in English from early years — home reading matters more than school medium for English fluency. Support the home language too; a child strong in one language learns others faster. When evaluating schools, ask how they handle the bilingual transition and what their English teaching looks like, rather than just checking the medium label. And recognise the evidence: the parents most anxious about mother-tongue instruction are often those whose children would benefit most from understanding their lessons.

FAQs

Will my child fall behind in English?

Not if English is taught well as a subject and used progressively. Research shows mother-tongue foundations improve later English learning rather than harming it.

Is English banned in early classes?

No. NEP recommends the home language as medium with English taught strongly; it explicitly envisions multilingualism, not English exclusion.

What about linguistically mixed classrooms?

Schools use the dominant regional language with multilingual teaching strategies. Perfect mother-tongue matching for every child is aspirational; the direction matters.

Mother-tongue teaching is not a retreat from English but a smarter route to it — children who understand their lessons in early years become the confident bilingual learners the policy envisions. The classrooms that get this right will produce students stronger in both languages than either extreme ever could.

Compiled by the Khabar 24h Editorial Desk from publicly available sources.