Mother Tongue as First Language & Medium at Primary & Secondary
Time-Bound Phased Programme for Replacing English by
With No Self-Interest or Ambition, No Desire to Please, No
Narrow Mentality which Demands not Rise of Hindi

Extracts from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s Speeches on Education &

Change in name AMU & BHU

Mrs. Hansa Mehta has referred in her speech to the existence of communal institutions and has stressed the point as to why the word 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' should at all be associated with the names of Benares and Aligarh Universities? I fully agree with the views expressed by her. I do not only agree but I welcome this idea. I extend a hearty welcome to this. No one else than I will be happier if the words 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' are eliminated from the names of these two Universities. But legislation establishing these Universities was passed by this House and until the Acts are amended, we cannot make any change. The Government are also in full agreement with the point stressed by Shrimati Mehta. Any Honorable Member of the House can move to an amendment to the Act. In any case this change must be made.

Language Policy

The Honourable Mr. Frank Anthony pointed out that the Government should have a uniform policy regarding language. If any change must be introduced, it should be made slowly and gradually after full consideration. The change from English to an Indian language should not be sudden as this will disturb the standard of education and will result in harassment to people. I can assure the Honourable Member that this is the policy of the Government who have advised the Provincial Governments to move cautiously and slowly in this matter. It must be known to the Honourable Members, and I was first to raise my voice and warn the people against taking hasty steps and to move slowly. In my convocation address at the Patna University, I first expressed my view that we should substitute the language in five years and though we should start the process now the English language should continue for five years. This opinion applies not only to matters of education but also to matters of administration. Later, in the month of January when the Central Advisory Board and the Educational Conference met, I placed the same view before them and laid emphasis on the point that English should be replaced gradually and after due consideration. I am glad the Central Advisory Board and the Educational Conference both agreed with this view, and I can say with confidence that the general policy of the Government in this connection will be indicated by me. Thus, the Central Government have, so far as they are concerned, laid down a definite and clear policy on this subject and as medium of instruction English will be replaced by one or more Indian languages. We do not want a sudden change, but the change should be affected step by step. Our plan is that this should be accomplished in five years and in such a manner that in the sixth year the need for English should vanish.

To put it succinctly the Government policy can be described as follows:

So far as the primary and secondary stage is concerned it has been decided that the medium of instruction will be the mother tongue, and this is being put into practice by all the provinces. For the University stage, it has been decided that English cannot continue as the medium of instruction but this change, we should bring about in five years so that in the sixth year English will be fully replaced.

This then is the policy of the Government on the language question and the representatives of the provinces who came to attend the Educational Conference also agreed to it. It is, therefore, not correct to say that the Government have no uniform policy in this matter.

As I have already said it has been decided that the medium of instruction even in the University will be the national language. But we have not decided yet whether we are going to have one or more national languages. The All-India Educational Conference which I convened in January last has appointed a committee to go into this matter and we are awaiting the recommendations of this Committee.

(Constituent Assembly (Legislative) 11 March 1948)

 On Mother Tongue as medium of instruction

The Honourable Begum Aizaz Rasul has drawn attention towards the necessity of imparting primary education to the children in their mother-tongue and urged the Government of India to lay down a clear-cut policy in this respect. I would like to tell her in this connection that this question has already been decided once or all and there is nothing more to be done. The Central Advisory Board of Education have explicitly laid down that the medium of basic education should be the mother-tongue, because this is the natural and appropriate medium for imparting education. The Government of India have already emphasised upon this principle through their Resolution of August last year and this fundamental principle has generally been accepted. As a matter of fact, the difficulty arises only when there is a difference between the language spoken by one group of people and the State language of the province concerned, e.g., in Bihar there are Bengali speaking classes. In such a case, the Central Advisory Board have proposed that the medium of primary education should be the mother tongue, and after the fifth class the State language should be taught. But the medium of education should strictly be the mother tongue.

If the language spoken by a certain group of people is not the same which has been adopted by the Provincial Government concerned, then in such a contingency it shall have to be admitted that every inhabitant of the province should learn the State language; otherwise, he will himself suffer. This is also obvious that the University education cannot be given through the medium of different languages. One language only shall have to be adopted and that shall be the State language. Except for this, there cannot be any practical solution of this problem.

In this connection, I shall also admit that complaints are regularly pouring in from certain Provinces to the effect that this fundamental principle is not being fully acted upon. If these complaints are correct, then I must admit that this is really a deplorable situation and it is essential that it should be remedied. The Government of India are already in correspondence on this subject with certain Provincial Governments, and it is very likely that a conference of the Provincial Education Ministers may be convened in this connection. In any case, I shall assure the Honourable Member, that the Government are fully alive to the importance of this matter, and they shall do their utmost to remove genuine complaints.

(Constituent Assembly (Legislative) 7 December 1949)