Sir, my amendment speaks for itself, and after hearing Mr. Lari, I do not think it is very necessary for me to go into details about this. The word “minority” has been defined in the Draft Constitution. I think that it is necessary that minorities who have a distinct language and script should have this right guaranteed to them by the State, that the children of these minorities will have all facilities provided to them to have primary education imparted to them in their mother tongue. Sir, It is an accepted principle all over the world that a child in the primary stages of education should have that education imparted to it in its mother tongue. I do not think that there can be any difference of opinion regarding this matter. It is impossible for a child who belongs to a section of the people whose language and script is different to that of the State to receive education in another language, because that militates against the very principle of learning. You cannot burden the mind of the child by forcing him to receive his primary education in an alien tongue and script. Sir, the object of this amendment is in no way meant to debar the children of minorities from learning the language of the State. It is in the interests of the children of the minorities themselves that they should learn the language of the State, whatever that language may be, as their economic future as well as entry in services, etc., depends that they should be well conversant with the language of the State. Therefore it should not be taken that I am in any way opposing the idea of the children of minorities learning the language of the State–but mine is a fundamental point because on good foundations of learning can education be effective. Sir, I do not think that it would have been necessary to have moved this amendment at this stage, but there are practical difficulties which we have experienced and therefore it is necessary that in the fundamental rights some provision should be made which would make the position clear and which would guarantee to the children of the minorities living in the territory of India the right to be given instruction in their own mother tongue in the primary stages. With these words, Sir, I move this amendment and hope that it will be accepted.
