SCHOOL EDUCATION CONFERENCE

The British Council, in collaboration with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), hosted a landmark conference on February 4, 2025, at the British Council, New Delhi. The event aimed to advance multilingual pedagogy in school education across India. Bringing together over 200 representatives from schools, educational institutions, and policy-making bodies, the conference saw participation from key stakeholders, including leaders from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), and various other educational organizations.

 The conference was inaugurated by Sh. Sanjay Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, and Sh. Rahul Singh, IAS, Chairperson, CBSE.

In his keynote address, Sh. Sanjay Kumar brought forth the importance of multilingual education in India’s diverse linguistic landscape. He emphasised that fostering inclusive educational environments that embrace multiple languages is a fundamental aspect of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The conference featured insightful plenary sessions and panel discussions, focusing on best practices in multilingual education and pedagogy, in alignment with NEP 2020. It also explored innovative approaches to school education, with a special emphasis on the role of multilingualism in enhancing learning outcomes.

Beyond discussions, the event served as a collaborative platform for educators and policymakers to exchange ideas and drive forward meaningful educational reforms, reinforcing the vision of an inclusive and dynamic learning ecosystem.

The following were the Key Takeaways:

1. Integrating multilingualism into classroom settings can empower students to navigate their lives more effectively.
2. Emphasis on incorporating children’s cultural backgrounds, diverse linguistic abilities, and lived experiences into the learning environment—without allowing any one single language to dominate.
3. By embracing multiple forms of communication, educators can foster multiliteracies, enabling classrooms to become spaces that reflect core values such as empathy, mutual respect, tolerance, pluralism, and equality.
4. The gap between multilingual societies and monolingual teaching practices needs to be confronted. I.e. a multilingual turn is the need of the hour. There is a need to set up a strong MLE programme for children regardless of the MOI.
5. With a focus on multilingualism, meaning- making and good communication need to be prioritised over accuracy. Linking L1 and L2 facilitates L2 development.
6. There is a need to cultivate a multilingual habitus—an educational environment that actively encourages the use of a learner’s full language repertoire, enhancing both academic success and social inclusivity. Teaching English and other subjects should embrace multilingual strategies rather than enforcing an English-only environment.

7. Some strategies could be by creating a welcoming environment, making the class a fun zone, engaging with families and scaffold learning.
8. While a multilingual approach in Indian classrooms offers immense benefits, its implementation faces challenges due to linguistic diversity and varying student proficiency levels.