Parliament Question: Scheduled Languages in Educational Institutions

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5796 ANSWERED ON 30.03.2026 Scheduled Languages in Educational Institutions

5796. Shri Mohibbullah:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the number of schools and higher educational institutions in the country offering teaching in languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, language-wise and State/UT- wise;

(b) the number of sanctioned and vacant posts of teachers/lecturers for Urdu and other Scheduled Languages in schools for undergraduate and postgraduate levels;

(c) the number of Urdu graduates and postgraduates appointed in Government institutions during the last five years, year-wise and State-wise;

(d) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of the shortage of teachers for Scheduled Languages, if so, the details of the findings thereof; and

(e) the measures taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to promote linguistic diversity and ensure adequate recruitment in Scheduled Languages? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (e): Education, a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, is a shared responsibility of both the Centre and the States in relation to higher and school education. An overwhelming majority of schools fall within the administrative control of respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. Likewise, a vast majority of students study in Higher Education Institutions governed by State Governments/UTs.

Government of India launched National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), for holistic development of students. NEP highlights the importance of multilingualism and places strong emphasis on promotion of all Indian languages. NEP recommends, wherever possible, the use of the mother tongue/local language as the medium of instruction at least up to Class 5, and preferably up to Class 8.

Central Universities, as autonomous institutions established by Acts of Parliament, offer academic programmes in various Indian languages with the approval of their statutory bodies.Several of these universities also have well-established departments dedicated to different languages.

Further, to ensure the timely filling of vacancies, all Central Higher Educational Institutions have undertaken Mission Mode recruitment drive since 2022. As of 24.10.2025, a total of 29,979 posts have been filled under this initiative, including 17,494 faculty positions.In addition, institutions supplement regular faculty strength by engaging Guest/Visiting Faculty in specialized language areas wherever required. Efforts are also made to strengthen linguistic research through research activities, organization of seminars and conferences, and promotion of publications in Scheduled Languages.

Occurring of vacancies and filling thereof, however is a continuous process. The vacancies arise due to promotion, retirement, resignation, death, opening of new institutions, schemes or projects, and additional requirements on account of enhanced students’ strength and expansion of capacity in existing institutions.

To promote the development of a multilingual teacher workforce, the Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) includes Indian languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as Language-I and Language-II within its Ability Enhancement and Value-Added courses.

In alignment with the objectives of NEP 2020, and with the aim of making high-quality educational content in Indian languages accessible for students, the Bharitiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme (BBPS) has been announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, to provide books in Indian Languages for school and higher education in digital format. BBPS envisions making educational content available in all 22 Indian scheduled languages.

Further, Government of India has undertaken several initiatives on promoting education in Indian languages. These efforts have further been augmented through the adoption of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) technologies, including the development of Large Language Models, translation tools and language-enabled digital services in Indian languages.

Government of India has started the BharatGen project, which is a multimodal Large Language Model Project focused on developing efficient and inclusive AI solutions that support all 22 Scheduled languages and enable the creation of a robust digital AI infrastructure for India’s unique socio-cultural context and diverse sectors.

Furthermore, to facilitate the translation of content into Indian languages, technological advancements include the development of AI-based translation tools such as ANUVADINI by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and BHASHINI, an initiative under the Digital India Programme.

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, has been set up to promote, develop, and propagate Urdu, Arabic, and Persian languages, including facilitating access to modern scientific, technological, and contemporary knowledge in these languages.

The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), a premier research body of the Ministry of Education, Govt of India plays an important role in promoting and preserving India’s richlinguistic diversity through policy support, research, resource development, translation, testing, and capacity building. Its key activities include:

• Language Documentation & Preservation: CIIL undertakes documentation of lesser-known languages. 117 languages, which have less than 10,000 speakers, have been taken up for preservation. • Development of Language Resources: It creates corpora, dictionaries, grammars, and digital repositories to support research and language technology in scheduled and non-scheduled languages of India. The resources have been developed in more than 150 languages, including scheduled and non-scheduled languages.

• Language Education & Pedagogy: CIIL develops textbooks, primers (in 120+ languages), and teaching-learning materials aligned with the National Education Policy 2020 to promote multilingual education.

• Training & Capacity Building: CIIL conducts training for teachers, translators, and researchers to strengthen linguistic competencies nationwide. • Fellowships/Scholarships/Internships: CIIL offers research scholarships/fellowships/Internships to the researchers/scholars working in all relevant areas pertaining to the protection, promotion and development of Indian Languages.

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