Indian Church leaders hail primary education in native tongues

Church leaders have cautiously welcomed the government's decision to use native languages for primary education in a central Indian state.The Chhattisgarh government “is set to incorporate local languages and dialects into primary education [grade 1 to 5] in the state’s tribal regions,” said media reports.

Bishop Paul Toppo of Raigarh diocese in Chhattisgarh welcomed the initiative.“It is very encouraging and will help many students who only know their local dialects,” he told

Local reports said Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai instructed the education department on July 7 to develop and distribute bilingual books in 18 local languages and dialects.The government claimed that the decision was part of the broader vision of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) to make education more inclusive and accessible in native languages.

It added that the new move will help children from tribal communities learn in their native languages and maintain cultural connections.Bishop Toppo said the students, especially from tribal areas of the state, including Christians, are not comfortable learning in either Hindi or English medium.

“This causes them to drop out of the school,” the prelate said.  However, Toppo, himself an Oraon tribal, said the initiative must be “observed closely.”

“Under the present scenario in the state, not much is being done to help the tribal communities, who are caught in the vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and migration,” he explained.