The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has introduced English from Class-I in its schools with effect from the current academic year.

The MCD has justified the introduction of English from Class-I on the ground that it is the 'need of the hour' and provides an 'alternative to those who cannot send their children to private schools'.

The MCD seeks to introduce English progressively as medium of instruction in higher classes of the primary schools. English is not the mother tongue of those students, except perhaps for a handful. Most of the students have Hindi as their Mother Tongue. There are, however, considerable number of children whose Mother Tongue. is Punjabi or Urdu. There are other linguistic minorities but they are small and the children largely go to their own schools.

Two question arise: is it a considered decision to substitute Hindi by English as medium of school instruction? This needs to be seriously pondered over.

The second relates to the linguistic minorities in Delhi. Every child will now learn English besides Hindi. The non-Hindi children, if they wish to learn their M.T. at the primary stage, as they must, will have to carry a triple load - 50 per cent heavier than the Hindi-speaking children. Introduction of English will, therefore, leave practically no academic space for Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali and other minority languages in the Delhi context. Is this fair? Is it equality? Is it intended to introduce Three-Language Formula from class-I itself?