Principals from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools in Nagaland have written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan conveying their difficulty in implementing the compulsory three-language policy framework, including introduction of Sanskrit, in Naga schools.

The letter dated May 23 states that principals from 19 CBSE schools in Nagaland have on-ground concerns about implementation of R3 language framework, where a compulsory third language is to be introduced from Class 6 onwards with at least two of them being native Indian languages, considering the unique socio-linguistic context of Nagaland.

‘English is lingua franca’

The letter states that Nagaland is home to over 17 major recognised tribes and dozens of sub-tribes each with their own distinct language and oral tradition. “Unlike most Indian States where a dominant regional language unifies communities, Nagaland has no single native tongue that all Nagas share. English has served as practical lingua franca across tribal communities in formal settings,” the letter states.

“In many of our urban and semi-urban schools, a single classroom holds children from more than 30 different linguistic backgrounds — Ao, Angami, Sumi, Lotha, Konyak, Chang, Phom, Zeliang, Chakhesang, Pochuri, Rengma, Khiamniungan, Tikhir, Yimkhiung and others alongside Bengali, Bihari, Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Kachari, Nepali and so on.”

“Textbooks and structured curricula for most of these languages remain largely undeveloped at the school level,” the letter further adds.

Principals in CBSE-affiliated schools of Nagaland have urged the Education Ministry to grant Nagaland a special linguistic exemption or a flexible framework as it is a “linguistically complex territory”. They have also urged for developing a structured syllabi for Ao, Angami, Sumi, Lotha, Konyak and other major Naga languages at the secondary level. They have also requested the State government of Nagaland in coordination with the Education Ministry to establish a scheme for appointment or deputation of trained language teachers to CBSE-affiliated schools.

Principals of CBSE schools in Nagaland are finding it difficult to identify a common native language, which can be taught under the three-language framework.

“The Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) once attempted to introduce a compulsory second language policy, but the practical realities of Nagaland’s diversity made implementation deeply challenging,” one of the principals of CBSE-affiliated school in Nagaland told The Hindu.

“Northeast part [of India] is quite different from the mainland. In Nagaland, we speak a mix of Assamese, Bengali and Hindi which is a colloquial dialect called Nagamese. There is no written script or grammar, it is just a language of communication,” the principal said.

“Students in Nagaland study primarily in English, and to a large extent they also study Hindi. However, they find it very hard to adapt to Hindi and so they also prefer to study foreign languages like French and German as these are easier to learn because of similarities in Roman script to English,” the principal quoted above explained.

‘Abrupt discontinuity’

“Students who have been learning French, German, or Spanish since Classes 1 or 2 now face abrupt discontinuity with no transitional pathway or recognition of their prior learning. Schools were given a seven-day compliance window — leaving principals, parents and students scrambling with no planning time,” the principal added.

The letter states that teaching Hindi effectively in Nagaland is highly demanding and securing qualified teachers is exceptionally difficult, and with the current policy framework, Sanskrit emerges (as a third language alternative) not by educational or cultural choice, but by the absence of a more feasible alternative.

‘Shortage of teachers’

“The primary obstacle is acute shortage of teachers. When teachers are available, they often communicate exclusively in Hindu with their mother tongue influence which makes it complicated for children to understand and creates a significant barrier for students who struggle to follow the meaning and fail to understand core concepts,” the letter states.

“If Hindi is already a challenge, Sanskrit is a steeper climb. If Hindu a living language with films, songs, news and everyday exposure is difficult to learn, how do authorities realistically expect students to take up Sanskrit, a classical language with no such living cultural ecosystem?” the letter states.

“The policy must ask itself honestly, is a compulsory third language taught without adequate teachers or materials, truly educating children in language — or is it merely adding an exam hurdle that consumes time and energy?” adds the letter.

The letter further says that if the noble goal of the three-language policy is to preserve mother tongues and indigenous identities, then the current trajectory of defaulting to Sanskrit represents a compliance exercise rather than a cultural mission.

“We respect Sanskrit as a language of immense historical and classical value, but for children in Nagaland, studying Sanskrit as their third language will not help them connect with their Angami grandmother, their Konyak grandfather or the oral studios of their own community. It will not preserve the Sumi dialect spoken in their village. It will not give a Lotta child the tools to write their own language,” the letter emphasises.

“A school with students from 10 different tribal backgrounds would need 10 different language teachers to teach each child in their mother tongue. The cost, logistics and sheer human resource challenge is beyond the capacity of any private school in Nagaland — and arguably most government institutions as well,” it states.