Padhe Bharat Campaign

• 03 Jan 2022

Why in News

Recently, the Ministry of Education has launched a 100 days reading campaign 'Padhe Bharat' (1^st January to 10^th April 2022).

• 21^st February, which is celebrated as International Mother Tongue Day, has also been integrated with this campaign in a view to promote the local language and culture of our society.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The Campaign is in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises on promotion of joyful reading culture for children by ensuring availability of age appropriate reading books for children in local/mother tongue/regional/tribal Language.
    
    • The NEP 2020 aims at making “India a global knowledge superpower”.
    • The NEP is only the third major revamp of the framework of education in India since independence. The two earlier education policies were brought in 1968 and 1986.
  • It will focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8.
  • This campaign has also been aligned with the vision and goals of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission.
  • It aims to have the participation of all stakeholders at the national and state level including children, teachers, parents, community, educational administrators etc.
• International Mother Tongue Day:
  
  • UNESCO declared 21^st February as International Mother Language Day in 1999 and the World has been celebrating the same since 2000. The day also commemorates a long struggle by Bangladesh to protect its mother language Bangla.
  • The resolution to mark 21^st February as the International Mother Language Day was suggested by Rafiqul Islam, a Bangladeshi living in Canada. He proposed the said date to commemorate the 1952 killings in Dhaka during the Bangla Language Movement.
  • The initiative is aimed at preserving and promoting mother languages. The aim is to protect the diverse culture and intellectual heritage of different regions of the world.

Education in India

• Constitutional Provisions:
  
  • Part IV of Indian Constitution, Article 45 and Article 39 (f) of Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), has a provision for state-funded as well as equitable and accessible education.
  • The 42^nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1976 moved education from the State to the Concurrent List.
    
    • The education policies by the Central government provide a broad direction and state governments are expected to follow it. But it is not mandatory, for instance Tamil Nadu does not follow the three-language formula prescribed by the first education policy in 1968.
  • The 86^th Amendment in 2002 made education an enforceable right under Article 21-A.
• Related Laws:
  
  • Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009 aims to provide primary education to all children aged 6 to 14 years and enforces education as a Fundamental Right.
    
    • It mandates non-minority private unaided schools to keep aside at least 25% of their entry-level seats for children belonging to disadvantaged sections to create a more integrated and inclusive schooling system.
• Related Government Initiatives:
  
  • PM POSHAN
  • NIPUN Bharat Mission.
  • Samagra Shiksha.
  • NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement).
  • Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA).
  • Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM).
  • Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC).
  • PRAGYATA Guidelines.
  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

Source: PIB