Need to include tribal, regional languages in primary education: Jharkhand minister

RANCHI: Jharkhand minister Sudivya Kumar on Wednesday inaugurated a two-day conclave which aims to deliberate on the challenges in imparting multilingual education to schoolchildren in line with the provisions of the National Education Policy, an official said.

Addressing the National Multilingual Education Conclave, the state higher and technical education minister Sudivya Kumar asserted the initiative would play a significant role in strengthening primary education. "This conclave is a strong and meaningful initiative for primary education. Jharkhand is a beautiful gem of this pluralistic country where an old proverb holds true - water changes every mile and language every ten miles," he said.

He said the state has five major tribal languages and four regional languages, adding that it was not possible to bind the state’s 24 districts through a single language. "When we talk about weaving together these linguistic flowers, there should be at least nine flowers to represent Jharkhand," the minister said.

Kumar said the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC), through the Promotion of Appropriate Language and Academic Skills for Holistic Education (PALASH) multilingual education project, has introduced five tribal languages -- Kurukh, Santhali, Mundari, Ho and Kharia -- in primary education, but only in eight districts so far.

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PALASH initiative

He said the state’s four regional languages -- Khortha, Nagpuri, Panchpargania and Kurmali -- also need to be included under the PALASH initiative to ensure their conservation and teaching at the primary level. "I will request Chief Minister Hemant Soren to ensure the inclusion of these four regional languages, because without this, the vision of a developed Jharkhand remains incomplete. Efforts in this direction should also be taken," Kumar said.

He added that "if we can’t make education holistic, simple, and practical at the foundational level, then it will only superficially produce individuals who copy calligraphy from the blackboard, but it will not build citizens who have their own knowledge and intellect."

JEPC state project director Shashi Ranjan told PTI that the main objective of the PALASH initiative is to provide early education to children in their mother tongue. "Research and surveys have shown that if a child is taught in his or her mother tongue, learning outcomes improve and the child gains confidence," he said.

Ranjan said participants from Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan are attending the conclave. The PALASH multilingual education project was initially implemented in five districts and expanded to eight districts in 2024-25. Currently, 1,041 schools across eight districts are providing multilingual education to children through textbooks and other teaching-learning materials, he said.