The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that the mother language should be made mandatory for school education in all States. He was addressing the inaugural session of a 2-day International Conference on ‘The Journey of Indian Languages: Perspectives on Culture and Society’ jointly organized by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), in Ahmedabad today. The Education Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasmaji, the Principal Secretary, Higher & Technical Education, Government of Gujarat, Smt. Anju Sharma, the Vice Chancellor of BAOU, Dr. Pankaj Vani, the Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, Dr. Ravindra Kumar and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.The Vice President said that the language is the soul of a society, the binding thread of human existence and it has been a vehicle, from time immemorial, for communication of thoughts, feelings and ideas. He further said that our societies have been built on the recognition of the fact that language is the lifeblood of a culture and building block of civilization.
The richness of a culture is evident from the vocabulary, the syntax, he added.The Vice President said that not enough attention is being paid to ensure that children master at least one language well during their schooling stage and this weakens the foundations for further learning. We need good researches that would aim to cement and enhance our tradition of excellent critical, historical, theoretical and creative scholarship across a full range of periods, genres and linguistic research areas, he added.The Vice President said that the Open Universities are making higher education opportunities available to a much larger number of students because they offer flexible schedules enabling learners like women and working population to study anywhere, anytime. He further said that the universities constantly innovate and see how best they can further serve the learners across the state and outside in a language they wish to study. He congratulated BAOU and IGNOU for their commendable service in offering higher education and fulfilling the educational aspirations of millions of people across the country.