Multilingualism: Implications and Challenges

Language enables an individual to survive and grow in the society. It is through language that humans are able to co-exist and prosper. Language plays the role of a tool and catalyst in development. It is a set of organised and collected entities that perform specific functions. The contemporary world has become a global village due to scientific and technological advancement. In order to meet the challenges of the modern world, to survive effectively and productively knowledge of more than one language has become need of the hour. Multilingualism is serving as a tool to ease the existence in the contemporary situation. The present paper attempts to highlight the reasons for popularity of multilingualism, barriers in promoting multilingualism in schools, implications of the National Policy on Education 2020 on multilingualism and ways to promote it for national integration. Multilingualism must be taken as an aid and not as a barrier as knowledge of various languages promotes and facilitates cognitive and intellectual development. The paper has plausible implications for students, parents, teachers, educators and policy makers.