UNESCO has released a set of specific recommendations aimed at strengthening multilingualism in education policy, particularly for a linguistically diverse country like India.
The recommendations were presented in UNESCO’s seventh annual report, “Bhasha Matters: The 2025 State of the Education Report for India,” which focuses on Mother Tongue and Multilingual Education. This year’s report explores the critical role language plays in ensuring inclusive and effective education.
India’s Linguistic Diversity and Education
The report notes that India is home to 1,369 languages, making the integration of multilingualism essential to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. It stresses that every child should be able to learn in a language they understand.
“Mother Tongue and Multilingual Education is the foundation for educational inclusion, linguistic diversity preservation, and enhanced learning outcomes. Education should begin in the learner’s first language or mother tongue to ensure better understanding, cognitive development, and academic success,” said Tim Curtis, Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia.
Alignment with National Education Policy 2020
Echoing these views, Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India, stated that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recognises the central role of language in education.
He noted that NEP 2020 strongly recommends multilingualism and early learning in a child’s home language, local language, or any language familiar to the child as the primary medium of instruction—at least until Grade 5, and preferably until Grade 8.
Research and Evidence from the Field
The report has been authored by Dr. Minati Panda, Professor and Director of the National Multilingual Education Resource Consortium at Jawaharlal Nehru University, with research support from Rahul Pachori, Linguist at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
It examines the implementation of multilingual education across India’s diverse educational landscape, drawing evidence from classroom practices, teacher education initiatives, digital innovations, and community-led programmes.
Developed in partnership with and supported by funding from the British Council India and UNICEF India, the report includes case studies from tribal and rural contexts. These studies demonstrate that when schools embrace learners’ home languages, there are measurable improvements in reading comprehension, classroom participation, conceptual understanding, and the creation of strong foundations for lifelong learning.
Need for Policy Integration
The report emphasises that multilingual education must be integrated into educational policymaking and classroom practices to create more inclusive, equitable, and effective education systems.
It aligns closely with the National Education Policy 2020, the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (2022), and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (2023).
Ten Key Recommendations by UNESCO
To address gaps in multilingual planning—particularly in teacher preparation, language policy, and learning resources—the report proposes ten key recommendations:
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Adopt and operationalise clear state-level language-in-education policies grounded in Mother Tongue and Multilingual Education
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Strengthen teacher recruitment, deployment, and professional standards for multilingual competence
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Reform pre-service and in-service teacher education to embed multilingual pedagogy at all stages
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Institutionalise community participation and Indigenous knowledge in school practices
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Develop and distribute high-quality multilingual learning materials and assessments across grades
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Integrate gender-responsive mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) across middle, secondary, and alternative schooling
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Leverage digital public infrastructure for inclusive multilingual teacher support and learning resources
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Invest in inclusive language technologies and bridge the digital divide
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Ensure sustainable, equitable, and inclusive financing for MTB-MLE and language-responsive technologies
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Establish a national mission for MTB-MLE and strengthen institutional coordination
Celebrating India’s Linguistic Heritage
The launch event also featured a multilingual musical rendition of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali, sung in Bangla, Hindi, and Gujarati, celebrating India’s linguistic diversity and the spirit of multilingualism.