UNESCO lauds Telangana’s multilingual education initiatives

Hyderabad: Telangana is making significant progress in multilingual education by integrating regional and tribal languages into the formal education system, according to UNESCO's State of Education Report for India 2025, titled 'Bhasha Matters: Mother Tongue and Multilingual Education'.

The report was launched in Hyderabad on Friday by UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia National Programme Officer Dr Huma Masood in collaboration with the State government. Authored by Dr Minati Panda, it highlights Telangana's initiatives to promote inclusive and multilingual learning.

Since 2019, the State has introduced eight languages in classrooms: Telugu, Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali and English. It has developed 274 textbooks for Classes 1 to 10, including bilingual learning materials.

Digital platforms such as DIKSHA and T-SAT provide QR-enabled textbooks and multilingual lessons. The SCERT Telangana Multilingual Digital Dictionary, covering nine languages, further supports teachers and students. The report also highlights specialised teacher training, cultural exchange programmes and efforts to preserve tribal languages, including Lambadi, Gondi and Kolami. A British Council study found that using familiar languages increased student participation in a Grade 7 mathematics class from 10 per cent to over 70 per cent.

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