Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the school level.

Addressing the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha, the Vice President recalled that the “Nai Talim” proposed by Mahatma Gandhi in Wardha in 1937 laid emphasis on making mother tongue as the medium of instruction, in addition to free compulsory education and skill training to the students.

Naidu said that the Constituent Assembly, after a long debate, accepted Hindi as the official language and accorded constitutional status to other Indian languages in the Eighth Schedule.

Noting that every Indian language has a glorious history and rich literature, he said “We are fortunate to have linguistic diversity in our country. Our linguistic diversity is our strength as our languages ​​symbolize our cultural unity.”

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s views on language, the Vice President said that for Mahatma Gandhi, the question of language was a question of national unity. He observed that even after insisting on Hindi, Mahatma Gandhi understood the sensitivity of every citizen to his mother tongue.

Gandhiji associated mother tongue with Swaraj and called for according to due importance to it, he said. Naidu said that Indian languages ​​have played an important role in keeping the overseas Indian community connected with the motherland of India.

The Vice President said that it is expected of a civilized society that its language should be gentle, cultured, and creative. “Let us exercise our freedom of expression with the decency of language and the discipline of words,” he said.

On this occasion, the Vice President also unveiled the statue of the architect of the Constitution, Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, and said that Dr. Ambedkar remained committed to education and equality throughout his life.

He expressed confidence that the statue of Dr. Ambedkar would be a source of inspiration for the teachers and students of Wardha University.

Today, the Vice President also inaugurated Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan and Chandrashekhar Azad Hostel in the university as part of its Silver Jubilee celebrations.

Praising the achievements of the Wardha University, Naidu said that the University has made available many famous works of Hindi literature online, helping the readers sitting in distant countries access authentic Hindi literature.

In this context, he wanted that the literature of other Indian languages should also be made available online with its Hindi translation.

The Mahatma Gandhi International University, Wardha was established by a Bill passed by the Parliament in 1997 and its Silver Jubilee Celebrations are being organized in 2022.

Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale; Wardha MP Ramdas Tadas, Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajnish Kumar Shukla, teachers, students, and others were present on the occasion.