mizoram-to-introduce-hindi-speaking-day-in-schools

The Mizoram government will introduce a monthly Hindi-speaking day in all schools across the state to improve spoken Hindi proficiency among students and teachers, School Education Minister Vanlalthlana announced recently.

Under the initiative, Hindi-speaking day will be observed once a month under the supervision of the state school education department, during which students and teachers will be required to converse in Hindi within school premises.

The move aims to address limited exposure to spoken Hindi in Mizoram, where Mizo and English are the official languages and Hindi is rarely used due to the small number of Hindi-speaking residents.

“The move is to improve proficiency in spoken Hindi in the state, particularly among the students,” Vanlalthlana said at a news conference.

He said many Mizo students and job-seekers face language barriers in other parts of the country because of inadequate fluency in Hindi, which is increasingly required for employment outside the state.

“Hence, Hindi proficiency is increasingly required for students seeking jobs in other parts of the country,” the minister said.

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As part of the initiative, Hindi teachers will undergo training to ensure better conversational skills among students, while those unable to speak Hindi fluently will be given special training.

“Given the importance of spoken Hindi, the government will notify Hindi-speaking day for all schools. Hindi will be used during school recesses once a month,” Vanlalthlana said, adding that spoken Hindi textbooks will be prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

Alongside this, the government will introduce a weekly home language day in all English-medium schools to promote and preserve local languages.

Students in English-medium institutions will be allowed to communicate in their home languages or mother tongues during school recesses once a week, the minister said, citing concerns over the rising dominance of English even outside classrooms.

Vanlalthlana also said the state government would ensure that all teachers employed under it, excluding those with less than five years remaining before retirement, clear the Teacher Eligibility Test within two years, in line with a Supreme Court ruling.