HRD Minister Dismisses Report On 'Compulsory Hindi Till Class 8', Calls It 'Misleading'

'The Committee on New Education Policy in its draft report has not recommended making any language compulsory. This clarification is necessitated in the wake of mischievous and misleading report in a section of the media,' Javadekar tweeted.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 10 January 2019 12:39 pm

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday dismissed media reports on government's intention of making Hindi compulsory, saying that no language is being given a compulsory status in the new National Education Policy (NEP).

"The Committee on New Education Policy in its draft report has not recommended making any language compulsory. This clarification is necessitated in the wake of mischievous and misleading report in a section of the media," Javadekar tweeted.

The Committee on New Education Policy in its draft report has not recommended making any language compulsory. This clarification is necessitated in the wake of mischievous and misleading report in a section of the media.@narendramodi @PMOIndia
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) January 10, 2019

According to a report in Indian Express, the committee has proposed a three-language formula, with Hindi being mandatory till class 8 across India. The proposal asks to form a common syllabus for Maths and Science and develop a script in Devangari for tribal dialects.

Currently, Hindi is not a compuslory language at schools in many non-Hindi speaking states, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Goa.

(With inputs from agencies)