School Textbooks Now Have Hindi Titles for English-Medium Students

Kerala Education Minister Calls It ‘Irrational’ and Against Constitution

April 15, 2025

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reportedly started assigning Hindi titles to textbooks meant for English medium students. Kerala’s Education Minister V. Sivankutty has described the decision as “irrational” and demanded an immediate review, criticising it for being in conflict with India’s constitutional and federal principles.

English textbooks for English medium students have had English titles. But now, names long in use, such as Honeysuckle for the Class 6 English textbook, can be replaced with Hindi titles—Poorvi, in this case, according to The Telegraph. The term Poorvi can mean “eastern” in Hindi and is also the name of a Hindustani classical raga.

Similarly, the Class 1 English textbook is now titled Mridang, and the Class 3 textbook will be called Santoor—both references to Indian musical instruments.

Sivankutty argued that using Hindi names for English textbooks not only defies common logic but also constitutes a form of cultural imposition, as reported by The Indian Express.

In his view, it erodes India’s linguistic diversity by forcing one language onto non-Hindi-speaking regions. As a leader from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he called upon other states—particularly those where Hindi is not the primary language—to oppose what he sees as an attempt to enforce Hindi through education.

The minister in Kerala further argued that the English titles had helped nurture a respect for India’s multilingual ethos in the minds of children. He insisted that English medium students deserve English titles for their books, and warned that educational content should not become a tool for cultural dominance.

Instead, he said, it should reflect values of consensus, sensitivity and inclusion. For states like Kerala, he said, defending linguistic plurality is both a policy and a constitutional commitment.

The issue has also drawn criticism from academics.

Apoorvanand, a history professor at Delhi University who had been involved in NCERT textbook development in 2006, termed the move “Hindi colonialism” and accused NCERT of using underhanded methods to familiarise non-Hindi-speaking students with Hindi through naming conventions. He cited Tamil Nadu’s past resistance to Hindi imposition as now being vindicated, according to the Telegraph.

Tamil Nadu has a long history of resisting Hindi imposition, with roots in the anti-Hindi agitations of 1937 and 1965. More recently, tensions have resurfaced between the DMK-led state government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government over the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its three-language formula. The DMK argues that mandating a third language in the state’s education system is unwarranted, places an added burden on students and serves as a veiled attempt to promote Hindi.

The three-language policy does not mandate Hindi, but the structure of the language choices makes it the most accessible third language for students in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, according to critics. These states already have their regional language and English in their education system. Under the three-language policy, they need to introduce a third language, and in many cases, Hindi becomes the default option due to its availability and the structure of the national education framework.

On the use of Hindi names for English textbooks, linguist Anvita Abbi, a retired professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, raised both pedagogical and linguistic concerns, while speaking to the Telegraph. She said a title should reflect the content of a book, and that terms like Poorvi or Santoor offer no meaningful indication of what the textbooks contain. More fundamentally, she said, if the medium of instruction is English, the title should also be in English to maintain consistency and clarity for the student.

Abbi also flagged a technical issue with pronunciation. Since these Hindi titles are presented in the Roman script on English textbooks, she noted that certain phonetic elements of Hindi are lost in translation.

The naming shift is part of a revision of textbooks being undertaken by the NCERT since 2023, in alignment with the NEP.