Not must for students to learn Hindi under NEP: RSS education wing

Indian Express

20-06-2025

Amid row over languages to be studied under the National Education Policy (NEP), the RSS's education wing — Vidya Bharati — has made its stand clear that it is not necessary for everyone to study Hindi.
Vidya Bharati's national president Ravindra Kanhare on Friday said: 'Vidya Bharti is of the opinion that education should be in mother tongue. This is something that has been said in the 1968 policy (on education) and has been proposed in the NEP as well. No language is being foisted upon any state. It has been said that children should read their language, one national language and any foreign language. If someone is from Tamil Nadu, they can learn Tamil or one from Kerala can learn Malayalam. It is not necessary for them to learn Hindi. The NEP draft had been sent to all states.'
Kanhare was speaking at Vidya Bharati's annual press conference at Constitution Club. On the issue of rising school fees in private schools in metropolitan cities, he said 'if parents create pressure, fees can be redetermined'. He also said that parents must judge whether their children are getting quality education to justify the fees they pay.
'To determine the school fees is the job of state governments. In states there is generally a system where if the fees are to be increased, it would be done through a committee under the district magistrate. If the fees are to be increased by more, a state-level committee looks into it. Parents must see whether the schools are providing the kind of quality education that such fees must afford. If the parents create pressure, the fees can be redetermined,' Kanhare said.
The statement comes in the backdrop of the growing concern over arbitrary hike in fees by private schools in metropolitan cities. The Delhi Public School in the Capital's Dwarka has been chided by the High Court as having become a 'money making machine' which treats students like 'chattel'.
Answering a question on NCERT removing the mention of the Babri mosque from Class 12 textbooks, Kanhare said, 'To bring changes in the curriculum is NCERT's job. We must stick to historical facts in books. We have seen in all these years that misleading information has been provided in some books. If they have been removed now then there is nothing wrong with that.'
Talking about Vidya Bharti's success stories in the past one year, Kanhare said while over 93% of students of its schools succeeded in Class 12th with more than 2,500 students scoring above 90%, as many as 27 of its alumni cleared the UPSC this year.