NCF 2005 Recommendations on Language

Due to the distinctive structure of Indian society, the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 emphasises bilingualism and multilingualism in language teaching and learning. Home languages, also known as mother tongues, are considered to be languages that children naturally pick up from their homes and society, as well as smaller family groups, the street, and neighbourhoods. By the time they start school, children are able to use their native languages since they are born with an inbuilt capacity for language acquisition.  “In many cases, children come to school with two or three languages already in place at the oral-aural level. They are able to use these languages not only accurately but also appropriately.”

Children have the chance to acquire “a bank of memories and symbols” from their fellow speakers and from their own experiences through communication. Additionally, native languages are “the method used to create the majority of information, and as a result, they are intimately linked to the thinking and identities of the individual. In fact, their relationship to identity is so intimate that denying or eradicating a child’s mother tongue or languages interferes with that child’s sense of self. The ability to comprehend and utilise a language effectively helps a kid relate to their environment and build connections between concepts, people, and objects.”