The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called for a national mission to strengthen mother-tongue instruction in India.

About the Annual India Education Report 2025

• UNESCO has launched the seventh edition of its annual flagship report, “Bhasha Matters”, the 2025 State of the Education Report for India.
• The report outlines ten core recommendations for India’s education policy.
• The recommendations focus on Mother Tongue and Multilingual Education.

Key Recommendations from the Report

• Policy Change: Adopt and operationalize clear state-level language-in-education policies grounded in Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE).
• National Mission: Establish a national mission for MTB-MLE and strengthen institutional coordination.
• Teacher Capacity & Development: Strengthen teacher recruitment, deployment, and professional standards for multilingual competence.
  • Reform pre-service and in-service teacher education to embed multilingual pedagogy at all stages.
• Learning Resources & Assessment: Develop and distribute high-quality multilingual learning materials and assessments across grades.
• Community & Inclusive Practice: Institutionalize community participation and Indigenous knowledge in school practice.
  • Integrate a gender-responsive MTB-MLE framework across middle, secondary, and alternative schooling.
• Technology & Digital Equity: Leverage digital public infrastructure for inclusive, multilingual teacher support and learning resources.
  • Invest in inclusive language technologies and bridge the digital divide.
• Sustainable Financing: Ensure sustainable, equitable, and inclusive financing for MTB-MLE and language-responsive technologies.

Constitutional & Policy Basis for Mother Tongue–Based Education in India

• Article 350A: Directs States to provide primary education in the mother tongue to linguistic minority children.
• Article 29(1): Protects the right of citizens to conserve their distinct language, script, and culture.
• Article 14 & 15: Support equity and non-discrimination, strengthening access to education in a familiar language.
• Eighth Schedule: Constitutional recognition of 22 languages, encouraging multilingual inclusion.
• NEP 2020: Recommends mother tongue/regional language as medium of instruction till at least Grade 5, preferably Grade 8.
• Right to Education Act, 2009: Allows flexibility for States to adopt child-friendly language of instruction.
• Samagra Shiksha: Supports development of multilingual textbooks and teacher training.

Significance of Mother-Tongue based Education

• A Foundation for Better Learning: UNESCO asserts that instruction in a student’s home or mother tongue is the foundation for:
  • Educational inclusion
  • Preservation of linguistic diversity
  • Improved learning outcomes

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UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations.  Objective: Its mission is to build peace and security through global cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. Established: 1945;  Headquarters: Paris, France Objective: Promote peace and security through cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. Key Conventions: World Heritage Convention (1972) Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) Convention on Protection & Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) Flagship Programmes: World Heritage Sites, Man and the Biosphere (MAB), Global Geoparks, Memory of the World.

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