Bihar: Regional languages to be medium of instruction in elementary schools

PATNA: Regional languages like Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili will be the medium of instruction in elementary schools of Bihar in future, state Education Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said in the assembly on Wednesday.

Replying to a question during a debate on the budgetary demand of Rs 38,035 crore for Education Department, the minister said, the idea behind adopting regional language as the medium of instruction in elementary schools is to teach students in their mother tongue so that they grasp concepts in a better way.

The Education Departments budgetary demand was passed by voice vote, though a cut motion moved by Congress member Vijay Shankar Dubey was rejected by the House.

Stressing the importance that is being given to education by the state government, he said, Rs 38,035 crore earmarked for 2021-22 fiscal forms 21.9 per cent of the states budget for 2021-22 fiscal.

Noting that without improving the quality of education, the state cannot develop, he said the time has come to pay attention to "learning output" by making a proper assessment.

"We have created an environment for children where they can study. We are giving food, uniform, bicycles to them but it needs to be verified whether children are making progress in receiving education," Choudhary said.

Referring to the Centre's New Education Policy (NEP) which aims at increasing public investment in the education sector to reach 6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the earliest, the minister said, "I am happy to announce that the state government has achieved the target of spending 6 per cent of the GDP on education."

The minister also appealed to teachers to give their best to teaching and assured them that the government will take care of their problems, besides asking regional officials not to harass teachers.

The Bihar government has decided to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, and eminent poet Phanishwar Nath Renu whose 100th birth anniversary will be celebrated on March 4, he said.

It is a matter of coincidence that Mahatma Gandhi had on March 3, 1939 began a hunger strike to protest against the atrocities of princely state of Gujarat and the Britishers, the minister said.

The hunger strike had ended in three days, Choudhary said. Poems and other writings were authored by Renu in a regional language which left an indelible impression on the minds of readers, he said.

When CPI(ML) legislature party leader Mahboob Alam raised the issue of imparting education in Urdu language, the education minister said, "Urdu is the second official language of the state. I dont know why do you want it (Urdu) to be downgraded to regional language from the status of second official language."

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