Multilingual Education and India

Dear Interest group, An other conference of interest.

Dear MLE Interest Group, India Today had recently some interesting topics on education in India . In October there was a rather critical report on SSA. Last week they had an item on education in the metros. Even though it does not touch on language I think many of you would be interested in the report on which this article was based.  You can download it from http://www.indiatodaygroup.com/itoday/20061127/  

Dear MLE friends, Some of you might be interested in attending the below mentioned conference.

Dear MLE interest group, This conference might be of interest to some of you.

Dear MLE Interest group, Some of you have asked for an overview of what is going on in India regarding MLE. The below is a document that was compiled for the Unesco international head quarters.

Dear MLE interest group, Sheldon Shaeffer was one of the key-note speakers at the Mysore MLE workshop in October 06. He is Director of Unesco Asia and Pacific. He wrote the attached clear and appealing article for the Bangkok post. Even though focussed on Thailand the content is very relevant to India too.

Dear MLE Interest group, Below an encouraging study!

Dear Interest group, It seems the interest in MLE from the international community is still on the rise. Read below about a new task force set up within UNESCO on Languages and Multilingualism. The official Unesco info on that you can find on http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34836&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

Dear MLE Interest group, Several of you are involved in advocacy for indigenous people groups. In such cases it is nice to have the back-up of international high level documents.

Dear MLE Interest group, Prof Rajesh Sachdeva of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) informed us below of the CIIL response to this discussion.

Dear MLE interest group, For those of you who do not have an Indian newspaper you might not be aware of this interesting controversy in Karnataka, one of the southern states in India.

Dear Interest group, For those who like browsing, Google launched a literacy portal. It is easy to take look: www.google.com/literacy .

Dear MLE Interest group, The more scholarly folks among us might be interested in the below announcement of a Research Center on Multilingualism at the Univeristy of Hamburg. Look at the details at http://linguistlist.org/issues/10/10-748.html The folks of that instutute wrote a book "Interfaces in Multilingualism" which is discussed below.

Dear MLE interest group., id21EducationNews is a free electronic newsletter. You can  read more about this newsletter at the bottom of the text. The below issue is totally focussed on MLE which means it contains about 10 short articles about the topic. Some of these articles have been distributed to you through this mailing list in other occasions. The newsletter gives only a brief abstract of the papers. To actually get the paper you have to send an e-mail or click on the given link below the abstract.

Dear Interest group, I suppose most of you have been following the discussions in Karnataka on the issue of medium of instruction. Just in case you missed it, below are two brief articles on the issue.

Dear MLE Interest group, From the below I understand that India will be represented at a consultation on literacy organised by the first lady of the US. Read on if you want more details.

Dear MLE Interest Group, Attached is some background reading. Primary Education in India Prospects of Meeting the MDG Target Sonia Bhalotra and Bernarda Zamora A quote from the conclusion: Putting the fairly positive results for attendance together with the worrying results for completion rates serves to highlight the importance of late entry and dropout. It suggests that the causes of late entry and dropout are not to be found amongst variables conventionally analysed – such as household wealth, distance to school or maternal education. This is an area that merits further exploration.

Dear MLE Interest Group, Attached is some background reading. Primary Education in India Prospects of Meeting the MDG Target Sonia Bhalotra and Bernarda Zamora A quote from the conclusion: Putting the fairly positive results for attendance together with the worrying results for completion rates serves to highlight the importance of late entry and dropout. It suggests that the causes of late entry and dropout are not to be found amongst variables conventionally analysed – such as household wealth, distance to school or maternal education. This is an area that merits further exploration.

Dear MLE-Interest group, Several of you have expressed the need for more India-based programmes, research and documentation. Attached is an interesting article on a programme in Kerala. I have not yet been able to find out who the author of this article is. Does anybody know? Anyway, good to see this good piece of documentation!

Dear MLE interest group. On the below mentioned publication has and India related contribution in it from Shireen Vatil Miller, Safe the Children India and Dhir Jingran. Also the other articles seem worth reading!

Dear Interest group, Some of you might like to know what UNESCO’s present thinking is on language related issues. See below.

Dear Interest Group, From the below message particularly the free resource packet will be of interest to some of you.

Dear Interest group, The below will be of particular interest to the techno-folks among us.

Dear Interest group, This book might be of interest to you. I have heard at least one person mentioning that it is very good.

Dear MLE Interest group, Several of you will probably enjoy joining the below mentioned forum. Let the Indian voice be heard!

Dear MLE-interest group, At the below mentioned workshop two people from India were present: ·          Dr. Mahendra K. Mishra, Government Orissa ·          Mr. Nasiruddin Khan, NCERT, Language Dept You might like to take note of the recommendations that came out of this workshop.

Dear Interest group, This time something more light (for those with a good internet connection): a cartoon on how outsiders can damage tribal communities. Though the format is light, the content is challenging!

Dear Interest group, Below a few language related quotes from the EFA Global Action Plan. The plan itself you can download from the internet.

Dear Interest group, This time something that does not cost money but gives out money...

Dear Interest group, Again an interesting conference!

Dear Interest group, Below a few more references to interesting papers/books and web articles.

Dear MLE interest group, Several of you are somehow involved in literacy. Attached is an overview of all literacy related UNESCO publications with their web-link.

Dear MLE Interest group, Some of you have asked for case studies on Multi Lingual Education (MLE) in non-western countries. Attached is a beautiful booklet on an African example. It is titled: Universal Primary Education in Multilingual Societies; Supporting its Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. I am sorry for the large file size. I hope you are all aware of the filter option in Outlook and other e-mail programmes which can prevent you from getting in these large message when inconvenient, but than allow you to download them later while having a good connection.

Dear MLE interest group, The below publication is a bit wider, but might still be of interest to some of you. Particularly since it is free (from the net)

Dear MLE Interest group, When I first met Prof Krishna Kumar, director NCERT, he asked me what has been done regarding the linguistic/educational challenges of the indigenous populations in Australia and US. The below is an interesting article regarding that issue on the US .

Dear MLE interest group, In the attached report from UNESCO to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the October seminar on Multi Lingual Education in India was mentioned (P6, see also below). The report is focussed on the Millennium Development Goals and indigenous peoples.

Dear Interest Group, Again an interesting conference.

Dear MLE interest group, Most articles and documents written on Multi Lingual Education (MLE) are for a broad audience and policy makers will neglect it. Attached is one especially written for policy makers. May it be of help to some of you.

Dear Interest group, The below conference might be of interest to several of us.

Dear Interest group, A two weeks workshop on Multi Lingual Education (MLE). I hope some of us can attend.

Dear Interest group, For your information.

Dear MLE friends, UNESCO Bangkok has recently published a report on the latest Asia-Pacific EFA coordinators' meeting that took place in October 2005. The book is available online at http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/081/index.htm Section 1.5 of the book is on language issues .

Dear Interest group, Below is a relevant and interesting e-mail discussion in which some of you participated. Good to read that language is getting quite some attention in this discussion. Happy reading/participating!

Dear MLE interest group, Several of you have shown interest in the below mentioned opportunity. I just learned that an NGO has produced the shell-book in the Vasavi language. The Vasavi-Kholchi tribe lives right in the centre of the place in Maharashtra where the disease broke out. 5000 copies were printed and are now under distribution. Is anybody aware of other initiatives? The website reference in the below message was not so detailed. The following link is more direct: http://www.sil.org/literacy/materials/health/avian_flu/index.htm