Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan yet again undercored the importance of imparting primary education in one’s mother tongue.

Speaking on the occasion on Telugu Language Day which is observed on August 29 coinciding with the birthday of the Telugu poet Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy, the actor turned politician remarked that the Andhra Pradesh government can pay true respect to Gidugu only if it imparts primary education in mother tongue.

While underlining the importance of learning in mother tongue, Pawan Kalyan once again defended the union government’s focus on regional languages in the National Education Policy (NEP) cleared by the Union Cabinet last month.

The way a child can express and understand herself in her own language, it will not be possible in any other language. We have a vision behind this approach,” he said. “Even UNESCO has said that primary education, as much as possible, should be in the mother tongue,” Pawan Kalyan added.

“Our new education policy links the past with the present, the Vedic knowledge with modern science,” he said.

The Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government plans to introduce English as a medium of instruction from classes 1 to 6 from 2020-21 academic year, while in classes 7 to 10, it would be added gradually in the next four years.

Andhra Pradesh government’s policy clashes with the Central government’s new National Education Policy (NEP) which made the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5 but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond will be in mother tongue.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had set aside the government order, saying that children and parents should be given the choice in the language of learning. The state government has since challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.