New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Rajasthan government to take affirmative and time-bound steps towards introducing Rajasthani as a subject in all schools in a phased and progressive manner.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also directed the state to formulate a comprehensive policy for the effective implementation of the constitutional mandate relating to mother tongue-based education, particularly in the backdrop of the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP).

The bench said the state shall take necessary measures to recognise and accord due status to the Rajasthani language as a local/regional language for educational purposes.

"The aforesaid directions are necessitated by the palpable vacuum presently operating in an area of significant constitutional importance," the bench said.

"Constitutional guarantees and policy declarations, particularly those bearing upon access to meaningful and inclusive education, cannot be permitted to remain dormant for want of executive action," it said.

The top court delivered its verdict on an appeal challenging a November 2024 order of the Rajasthan High Court.

The high court had dismissed a petition seeking directions to the state authorities, including to impart education to children in the Rajasthani or the local language.

Referring to NEP, the top court noted it accords primacy to the use of mother tongue, home language, local language or regional language as the medium of instruction, particularly at the foundational and preparatory stages of schooling.

"At a more fundamental level, the right to receive education in one's mother language finds its normative basis in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, for the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression necessarily encompasses the right to receive information in a form that is both meaningful and comprehensible," it said.

The bench said it was a matter of concern that despite such clear policy articulation by the Centre, there appears to be a substantial deficit in the actual implementation of these commitments by the State at the ground level.

"Therefore, the continued inaction and inadequacy on the part of State Government in operationalising this mandate not only undermines statutory and policy directives but also risks infringing fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution," it said.

The bench said a right that exists only on paper, without corresponding administrative will or implementation, is in effect no right at all.

The top court said it is particularly "disquieting" that Rajasthan has consciously tried to justify its continued inaction by adopting a myopic stance.

"Under these circumstances, this court cannot remain a silent spectator to the stark dilution of rights so clearly recognised in constitutional text, legislative enactments, and binding precedents," it said.

The bench said while it was not the province of the court to enter upon the arena of policy formulation, it was nonetheless its solemn constitutional duty to ensure that the guarantees enshrined in Part III of the Constitution were not rendered illusory by executive inaction or indifference.

It said once the Union itself has, through legislative measures and policy frameworks, acknowledged the necessity of imparting education in a language intelligible to the child, a corresponding obligation arises for the States to take timely, effective and purposive steps towards its realisation.

The bench said a failure to discharge such obligations cannot be countenanced, for constitutional rights, once recognised, must be translated into tangible outcomes and cannot be permitted to languish as mere abstractions.

"... we deem it appropriate to direct the State of Rajasthan to formulate an appropriate and comprehensive policy for the effective implementation of the constitutional mandate relating to mother tongue-based education, particularly in the backdrop of the National Education Policy, 2020," it said.

"The State shall take necessary measures to recognise and accord due status to the Rajasthani language as a local/regional language for educational purposes and to progressively facilitate its adoption as a medium of instruction, initially at the foundational and preparatory stages of schooling and progressively at higher levels, in a manner consistent with constitutional principles and pedagogical requirements," it said.

The bench noted that Rajasthani is presently being taught as a subject in universities across the state.

It said that yet, the procrastinating stand consistently taken by the State is that only those languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution are being taught as additional languages in government primary and upper primary schools.

"Such a position, in our considered view, discloses an apparent pedantic approach, for the academic recognition of Rajasthani at the higher educational level itself belies all suggestions that the language lacks institutional or pedagogical acceptance," it said.

The bench also directed the Rajasthan government "to take affirmative and time-bound steps towards introducing and providing Rajasthani as a subject in all schools, government and private, in a phased and progressive manner consistent with the constitutional and policy framework discussed hereinabove".

While allowing the appeal, the bench set aside the high court order and posted the matter for September 30 for compliance.

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.