‘Kids Learn Faster in Mother Tongue': Modi Says NEP 2020 Will Usher in 'New World Order'

Emphasizing the need to teach children in their mother tongue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said there is no dispute that students learn faster in the dialect they speak. He stressed that the new national education policy will usher a "new world order" and will lay foundation of a "new India in 21st century".

"There is no dispute that children learn faster in the dialect they speak at home. This is a major reason for the NEP to inlcude imparting of education in children's mother tongue at least till class 5," PM Modi said during his inaugural address at the conclave on 'Transformational Reforms in Higher Education under National Education Policy'.

Modi further said the NEP 2020 would usher in a "new world order". "It gives me immense pleasure to know that after the National Education Policy was released, there were no major protests from any part of the country, neither were there allegations of it having any bias," the prime minister said, adding that the policy was approved after brainstorming over it for four years.

The PM said that through NEP India will transform its students into global citizens who are rooted in their values. "In recent years, there have not been major changes in education and thus the values of curiosity and imagination were not given the thrust. Instead, we moved towards a herd community. The mapping of interest, ability, and demand was needed. We need to develop critical thinking and innovative thinking abilities in our youths. It will be possible if we have purpose, philosophy, and passion of education," said Modi.

Outlining the major shift in the education policy, Modi said, "In our education system the focus has been on 'What to Think' while the new Education Policy will emphasise on 'How to Think'." Modi said in the present world there is no shortage of information and content. The effort now is to emphasise on 'Inquiry, Discovery and Analytics' based methods for children to learn.

This will increase the urge for learning in children and increase their participation in the classes, he added.

The conclave aimed to discuss several new initiatives introduced under the recently launched National Education Policy, the PM asked all stakeholders to discuss the ways to implement the new policy.