Is Vernacular medium ideal for early years?

There is absolute consensus among all pedagogy experts that a child’s mind is best wired to understand in the native language in the early years of learning. There can actually be no counter-argument to this since it’s established through scientific research. So any school that is not teaching kids of 3-8 years of age in home language is actually laying a burden on the child’s mind to translate the teacher's words into his native language for understanding. At such a delicate age that can be a daunting task. So in a way, the newly announced National Education policy is only underlining what has always been part of policy but never enforced due to implementation hurdles.

So this is a much-awaited course correction. Now with the advent of technology teachers can easily equip themselves to facilitate communication in the local language if most students speak that language at home. It’s easier for the teacher to take that burden of translation rather than the kid. After all primary education builds the foundation years and if the medium of instruction is in a foreign tongue it can be counter-productive for the development of the child’s mental faculties. And there can be no chance taken in this. Only the best practices must be employed when it comes to grooming and nurturing the future generation of the country. Also on a different note, many of our regional languages are dying because the new generation has failed to appreciate their own language and culture. This should be a healthy move to instill pride in one's native culture.

But as always there’s a flip side to it, India is a diverse country and any such blanket rule cannot apply without factoring in peculiarities of a particular location. The classroom composition must be taken into account. It’s one of those things that require a micro, not macro approach. Take Mumbai for instance there may be kids from as many as 5 different regional backgrounds. Can a teacher possibly employ 5 languages in her communication? Also, segregating students as per regional backgrounds into different classrooms that would that be a great idea? A learning environment is often one that unites children of diverse backgrounds. All things considered, any sweeping change in the medium of instruction to local language would require mindset changes. There is language apartheid that’s deep-rooted with a premium attached to English as the universal language. And most parents want that exposure from an early age so that the child is learning and speaking in the language that the world speaks in.

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