The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Rajasthan government to formulate a comprehensive policy for recognising and promoting Rajasthani as a medium of instruction in schools across the State.
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said the State must take steps to accord proper status to Rajasthani as a local or regional language for educational purposes and gradually introduce it as a medium of instruction in schools.
“The State shall take necessary measures to recognise and accord due status to the Rajasthani language as a local or regional language for educational purposes and to progressively facilitate its adoption as a medium of instruction, initially at the foundational and preparatory stages of schooling and progressively at higher levels,” the Court observed.
The Bench further directed the State to frame a comprehensive policy in line with the constitutional mandate on mother-tongue education and the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Calling the absence of structured recognition of Rajasthani in school education a “vacuum” in an area of constitutional importance, the Court said students should have access to education in their mother tongue, particularly during the foundational years of learning.
The Court also directed the Rajasthan government to introduce Rajasthani as a subject in both government and private schools in a phased manner, beginning with lower classes and gradually extending to higher levels.
The Bench criticised the State’s stand that only languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution can be part of school education. It noted that Rajasthani is already being taught in universities such as Jai Narain Vyas University, Maharaja Ganga Singh University and University of Rajasthan, showing that the language already enjoys academic recognition and institutional acceptance.
“We may note that Rajasthani is presently being taught as a subject in the universities across the State of Rajasthan… yet the procrastinating stand consistently taken by the State discloses an apparent pedantic approach,” the Court remarked.
The case arose from a plea challenging the exclusion of Rajasthani from the syllabus of the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET). The petition argued that excluding a language spoken by more than 4.62 crore people in Rajasthan disadvantages candidates proficient in Rajasthani and undermines the State’s cultural and linguistic heritage.
The plea also highlighted that while languages such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu are included in the REET syllabus, Rajasthani has been left out. It relied on Article 350A of the Constitution, the Right to Education Act and NEP 2020, all of which emphasise the importance of mother-tongue-based education.
The petitioners further pointed out that the Rajasthan Assembly had passed a resolution over two decades ago seeking inclusion of Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, but the proposal has still not been implemented.
