English after NEP 2020: Linguistic Capital, Multilingual Inclusion, and the Limits of Language Policy in Indian Higher Education

Author

Dr. Rajashekhar S. Mulimani

Abstract

 India’s National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) promotes multilingualism, home-language learning, and a stronger place for Indian languages in education. These commitments are sometimes read as a retreat from English, even though English continues to matter in higher education and employment. This article asks how colleges can widen linguistic inclusion without leaving English proficiency to prior advantage. It reads selected NEP provisions alongside scholarship on English language teaching, translanguaging, and linguistic inequality. The literature includes policy analyses, classroom studies, and surveys of student attitudes, whose findings are not interchangeable: the use of multiple languages or favourable attitudes towards it do not, by themselves, demonstrate improved English proficiency. NEP 2020 separates the medium used to teach a subject from the languages students can learn well, but it offers no single institutional model for supporting students with uneven prior access to English. The article argues for explicit English teaching alongside purposeful multilingual scaffolding, assessment tied to stated outcomes, and institutional investment in teachers and materials. It is a critical policy analysis, not an empirical evaluation of NEP implementation.

Keywords

NEP 2020; English language teaching; linguistic capital; translanguaging; multilingual education; higher education; language policy

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References

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