National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and regional language education: scope for the Kosli language

Under the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, the use of regional and mother tongue-based education system is stressed to bring about inclusive, equitable and culturally-oriented education. Against this background, it may be stated that in the western region of Odisha, there is Kosli (Sambalpuri), whose speakers number 10 million as per the census of 2011. In this respect, it is relevant to conduct an analysis of Kosli language within the perspective of NEP-2020. The significance of doing so would be in enhancing the linguistic identity and improving the educational and cultural condition of Kosli speakers. Even though there are clear guidelines given by NEP-2020 concerning the incorporation of regional languages within mainstream education, it may be noted that there is insufficient academic discussion that considers the issue of incorporating non-scheduled languages and regional languages into formal education, especially when one considers the case of Kosli language. In this regard, the first objective of this paper is to analyse the provisions made in the NEP-2020 concerning the regional and mother tongue-based education. The second objective of this study is to identify the scope for including the Kosli language in education. The present study uses qualitative and descriptive approaches to research. Its theoretical basis is an analysis of policy documents about the NEP-2020, relevant literature sources and previous works concerning language learning, teaching and regional languages. According to the findings, NEP-2020 offers a favourable context for introducing Kosli language through mother-tongue instruction, multilingual teaching and promoting local languages. Nevertheless, several issues such as absence of governmental interest, absence of a standardized curriculum, textbooks, and teacher training prevent the process from becoming effective. To conclude, there is a necessity of having certain measures at the policy level for successfully integrating Kosli language into the education sector.