Happy International Mother Language Day! -Studies in Assam & Webinar

Happy International Mother Language Day! -Studies in Assam & Webinar

Today, as I was running some errands, I noticed a lot of action on the roadside. As someone was talking passionately through a microphone I assumed it was a political rally. But then I heard one phrase coming back again and again: "Matri Bhasha". Of course, I thought, today is International Mother Language Day! That gives me a  good excuse to highlight a new initiative in Assam. It is also a good reason to recommend a webinar multilingual education later today.

February 21 is the International Mother Language Day. The day is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism around the world. The theme of the year 2022 is “Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities”.

As reported by the Times of India and other newspapers, Assam schools are planning  to introduce 4 languages as new media of instruction: Rabha, Missing, Tiwa and Dewri in the upcoming academic year. This was announced earlier this month by the Education Minister Ranoj Pegu. It is a part of the New Education Policy (NEP) which promotes the use of mother tongue in education. According to Pegu a ‘multilingual pedagogy’ will be used and will focus on English and Hindi as well. Bodo, Hmar and Garo are already being taught in schools in Assam and introduction of the new languages were a long standing demand of the Tribal organisations and Sahitya Sabhas. We are looking forward to hearing more about it in the coming years!

As it is a special day today, it is worth mentioning that the National Multilingual Education Resource Centre is conducting a webinar today at 5 PM on the topic of “Language practices and classroom pedagogy in India". Given the fact that all 4 speakers have a broad experience in this field, I would highly recommend attending that! See details below.

Regards,

Karsten

Pic Courtesy: UNESCO.ORG