Centre not imposing any language on States, says Dharmendra Pradhan

nion Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan clarified that the Centre is not imposing any language on States. The three-language policy is flexible, with the mother tongue as a priority. He dismissed political claims suggesting the policy creates divisions

Chennai: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the Centre was not imposing any language on anybody. He termed those who claim that the Centre imposes the three-language policy on States as “politically motivated”. “We are not imposing any language on anybody. For Classes 1 and 2, there will be two language formulas. One will be the mother tongue.

Here, it will be in the Tamil language. The Government of India’s condition is that you have to teach in Tamil in primary school. You can teach another language, that is your choice,” he said.
Pradhan was speaking to reporters in the presence of Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, after taking part in the ‘Think India Dakshinapatha Summit 2025’.

---

Elaborating about the three-language policy, he said from Class six to ten, there is a three-language formula. “One language will be the mother tongue. The remaining two will be your choice. No language will be imposed by the Government of India on any State,” he said.

To a query on how the three-language policy is being implemented in a State like Uttar Pradesh, he said, “We are implementing it in that State also. Many State governments, including those that were ruled States, are implementing the three-language policy before the National Education Policy.” “In Uttar Pradesh, a student will learn Hindi as their mother tongue. After that, they may opt for learning Marathi and Tamil also. Some students in UP can take Tamil as a third language. UP government has to provide the facility to teach Tamil,” he said.

Pointing out that only 10 per cent of India’s population speaks English, he said the rest of the population prefers to speak in their mother tongue. He quoted Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s comments that he would encourage Telugu-speaking students to learn as many as 10 languages so that every Telugu boy would become ‘globally competitive’ and they would be proficient in different languages.

“Language is always a facilitator. Those with politically narrow ideas are creating this problem,” Pradhan said. Referring to his past visits to Tamil Nadu, Pradhan said, “I have toured all parts of Tamil Nadu. It is essentially a linguistic State. I am Odia. I am very proud of the Odia language. But I am also proud of other Indian languages.” “With full responsibility, I am telling you today, those who want to create this language division have failed. Society is moving way ahead of them, ” he said.