Language as a Tool for Inclusive and Equitable School Education: A Critical Review of NEP 2020

Abstract

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 begins at the very outset by acknowledging education as the fundamental tool for achieving human potential and for achieving economic and social mobility, justice, equality and inclusion. It further recognises the need for education itself to be ‘inclusive and equitable’ for it to be able to become such a tool. The article drawing from socio-cultural learning perspectives examines the language perspective of NEP 2020. The present article aims to examine the commitment of NEP 2020 towards linguistic inclusion and multilingualism in school education by focusing on how the policy appears to understand the significance of languages and the pathway it suggests for the same.