Maj Gen SK Sharma, AVSM
In 2020, Govt of India came out with National Education Policy, popularly called NEP-2020, with the aim to make education easy, understandable and useful for the young toddlers. It is proved well beyond doubt that teaching in mother tongue helps students delve into conceptual understanding and strengthen memory retention. Accordingly, NEP lays ample thrust on the teaching in mother tongue at least in the primary classes. This will alsopromote the native languages which is a basic requirement for the global peace.
Schools under J&K Board
As far J&K is concerned, main two languages viz. Dogri and Kashmiri have been included in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution, thus giving these the national status. Both these languages were also included as the official languages of the UT of J&K in 2020.
But on ground, the orders of the Govt of India as well as J&K are not fully implemented by the Education Dept. They have neither made Dogri and Kashmiri languages as the compulsory subjects in the schools nor provisioned Dogri and Kashmiri qualified speaking teachers even at the primary level.
Public feels that both these aspects have been neglected by the Education Dept. and they are taking these very casually. Some senior citizens also say that the education dept of the govt is defying these orders.
As these orders were not implemented by the Education Dept., a delegation of Senior Citizens SS Club, Chowadi, Jammu met Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor J&K in Sep 2023 and gave him facts of the case. LG assured the delegation that the Govt will ensure implementation of NEP-2020, make Dogri compulsory in Jammu region as per NEP and also arrange suitable resources.
However, nothing seems to have happened on ground. The author met many senior officials of the Education Dept including Secretary to Govt. School Education Dept, Chairman Board of School Education (BOSE), Project Director Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, CEO Jammu district, ZEOs andPrincipals of many schools. They were explained each and every clause of the NEP as well as National Curriculum Frameworks NCF-2022 and NCF 2023. All the schools in Jammu blame BOSE and the Education dept. for not issuing any order and some of them also say that the govt. is betraying Jammuites.
However, earlier in 2017, Education Dept had ordered all the govt and private schools to teach Kashmiri, Dogri and Bodhi as a compulsory 6th subject in 9th and 10th classes in their respective regions. Order No. 333-Edu of 19.6.2017 and also 464-Edu of 2017 further stated that the implementation would begin from the 2018-10 session. But the vested interests got these orders scuttled and these never saw light of the day.
To pursue this case, the author met Chairman BOSE twice and requested him to prepare State Curriculum Framework (SCF) in line with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2022, and NCF-2023) so that the mother tongue Dogri and Kashmiri are given official place in the syllabi and students are taught from class 1 onward. He was also provided with the suggestions for framing SCF in line with NEP as it would act as a guide for schools to teach mother tongue Dogri/Kashmiri as a compulsory subject in the primary classes.
The author took the liberty of meeting Rajeev R Bhatnagar, the then Advisor to LG and explained to him the laxity of the Education Dept in implementing NEP and requested to issue an executive order, to the Dept as well as the BOSE authorities to implement NEP so that mother tongue Dogri/Kashmiri is accorded due place in the syllabi.
Prompt action by the Govt was appreciated by the society and the author when within a few months the following three orders were issued:
* Govt order No. 227-JK-(Edu) of 2024 dated 17.5.2024, issued by School Education Dept constituting a committee under Project Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for ensuring implementation of NEP-2020 at the school level.
* JKBOSE constituted a committee for preparing State Curriculum Framework in line with NCF-2022.
* Dept of School Education also agreed to author’s request and replied him stating, “All students will learn at least three languages. Two languages will be native and third will be English”. This letter was sent to JKBOSE also for including a native language in the school syllabi as a compulsory subject.
Schooling session of 2024-25 passed without any action on ground. Session of current year also commenced in April 2025. But schools are still waiting for any direction from the govt. to teach the mother tongue Dogri/Kashmiri. This lackadaisical attitude is beyond comprehension of a common citizen and some senior citizens feel that it is a deliberate attempt to keep the children away from the Dogri language thus leading to eminent death of Dogra culture in another 40-50 years or so.
J&K Schools under CBSE
There are around 30,000 CBSE schools in the country including 178 in Jammu and Kashmir. Central Board of Secondary Education, vide their circular No: ACAD-30/2025 of 22.5.2025 has instructed all the CBSE schools including in J&K to teach mother tongue and implement it from July 2025 onward. Salient clauses of the circular are as under:
* At the Foundational Stage, from Pre-primary to Class 2 , the first language to be taught, called R1, will be the child’s mother tongue/home language. In case of difficulty, it could be any other familiar or state language.
* At the Preparatory Stage, from classes 3rd to 5th, the medium of instruction will be R1 (mother tongue) as student would have attained literacy in R1 by then. However, another language R2 (Hindi, Urdu or Sanskrit in our case) could be made as medium of instruction.
* Timeline for Implementation: By May 2025, each school will constitute a committee to map student’s mother tongue with the language resources. When schools open up in July 2025, teaching will commence as per the above orders.
Recommendations for J&K Education Dept
Education Dept should take cue from the CBSE and issue a strong order asking all the schools coming under J&K Board to follow NEP-2020 and do the following:
* Up to class 2, students should be taught in mother tongue which is Dogri, Kashmiri or any other.
* Medium of instruction in classes 3rd to 5th should be the mother tongue.
* Each Principal/Headmaster/In charge school should earmark at least 2 General-Line-Teachers and get them trained in the mother tongue through SCERT.
* Directions be given to SCERT to ensure to train at least two teachers of each school in the mother tongue. It should also develop linguistic resources within the house.
* All B.Ed Colleges must teach the subject of “Practice in Dogri/Kashmiri teaching”. Currently, Govt. College of Education, Jammu neither has any faculty for the subject “Practice in Dogri Teaching” nor they teach this subject to their B.Ed or M.Ed students who are the future teachers in Jammu region.
* Additional Dogri/Kashmiri qualified teachers be recruited or existing teachers be trained in Dogri/Kashmiri language to teach students in higher classes.
(The author is former Member, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board)
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