Multilingual Education and India

The Language  and Learning Foundation has conducted India's first-ever language mapping of schools survey in Chhattisgarh: Language Mapping of Schools in Chhattisgarh .  The survey was carried out under the NIPUN Bharat initiative  in collaboration with the Government of Chhattisgarh and UNICEF India. The report  maps the different language situations that are present in each school with the aim to design an effective education strategy and policy. Through this research almost 30,000 schools were surveyed. The focus was on the first grade and the information gathered was mainly through the teachers. The following conclusion was stated in the summary of the report: The survey shows that in about 75% of the schools students are likely to face moderate to severe learning disadvantage due to the difference between their home language and the school language used as the medium of instruction. It also shows that about 95% of students at the time of entry to the primary sc...

  With the New National Education Policy requiring the first grades to be taught in the mother tongue, we see an increased interest in the issue of language in the classroom. However, many teachers and policymakers have a hard time understanding what multilingual education is all about. I found this excellent lecture by Dhir Jingran online. From my perspective, its strength is that it deals with both the theory as well as the practice. As a former government policymaker, grass-roots level researcher, and NGO founder, Dhir knows very well how complicated the realities on the ground are and yet he provides a clear way forward.

Photo by Jaikishan Patel from Unsplash Last week the Indian government cleared a new National Education Policy (NEP). An NEP sets the framework for education for approximately the next 10 years. It is therefore worth looking at it from a language perspective. The policy gives a push for multilingualism and at first glance it seems that the pedagogical principle of children being taught in their mother tongue is kept up. However a closer look reveals that it is more complex than that.

Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World Photo by Peter Hershey on Unsplash While attending an International Mother Language Day function in Bangkok last month I heard about the Salzburg Statement and decided to learn more about it. The statement is basically a call on educators, businesses and governments to promote language diversity as a global norm.

Panel of secretaries recommends to make English a compulsory Copyright: Financial Express Earlier this month a panel of secretaries from the Group on Education and Social Development has recommended to make English a compulsory subject in all schools beginning from class VI, and to start at least one English-medium school in each of the 6,612 blocks in the country. This news was reported in the Indian Express and the Financial Express a couple of weeks ago. I had hoped by now a few more details would have come out, as the panel aims for its implementation by this April. However the newspapers remain silent about it. The panel claims that this recommendation is in line with the three language formula by that it still allows the medium of instruction be the mother tongue, while English will have to be added as either number two or three. The advise goes against the RSS recommendation of last October that suggested that "the medium of instruction from elementary to higher...

New Education Policy India In 2015, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) initiated a consultation process for the formation of the New Education Policy (NEP). The full draft plan has not yet been released to the public but an input report has been published. The report includes several references to language including multilingual education. Image Credit: Flickr/ Yorick_R (CC BY 2.0) The background of the New Education Policy (NEP) and the reason for the slow process are given in the article published earlier this month India’s New Education Policy: Creeping 'Saffronization'? The aim of the new policy was "to respond to the 'changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regards to quality education, innovation and research' and help the country move towards becoming a knowledge superpower.". The Diplomat reports that the process was slowed down because of saffronization acquisitions.

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Outlook reports on language issues in Maoist areas                          ...

  State Vision Conclave in Ranchi promotes MLE According to the ASER -2014 report only 1/3 of the grade V children in Jharkhand can comprehend a grade V text. The State Vision Conclave points at language as being a cause for this problem.   On 29 January 2015 the Jharkhand ...

                                  Nepal reports positive effects from local language classes Only a few months ago the Nepal press reported negatively about the multilingual education programs. But this time is different . The article Start of native language classes ups enrolment states : "According to the District Education Office (DEO), the use of native langua...

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Last Month the government of Odisha made a significant move in the expansion of the multilingual education program. The Times of India reports: "In a bid to extend the mother-tongue based Multilingual Education Programme (MLE), the state government has decided to use mother tongues as medium of instruction for the first five years in primary schools. In these classes, Odia will be taught as the second language from Class II and English will be introduced as a language subject from Class III."   Usha Padhee, secretary, school and mass education department, Government of Odisha affirms the long-term benefits of multilingual education. It seems that the Odisha government is the first one to take the education in the Mothertongue really serious. Mr Usha Padhee, secretary, school and mass education department states: "Continuing primary education for the first five years of school in the mother tongue will have several long-term benefits like sustained a...

Dear multilingual Education friends, Odisha has for several year be one of the front runners for multilingual education. It wants to expand the program and has decided to recruit teacher assistants ("Siksha Sahayaks") for the program. This move is part of a wider initiative to push the responsibility of the education down to the community. More details can be read in the article titled " Siksha sahayaks to be engaged in MLE ". A few quotes: Although the [MLE] programme had been implemented by transferring teachers with expertise in the tribal language to the MLE schools, absence of adequate number of teachers prompted the Government to engage siksha sahayaks for effective implementation of the programme. In fact, the Government has already approved a policy on MLE which calls for continuation of the programme and its coverage to all tribal children. In a latest resolution that seeks...

Dear Multilingual Education friends, The Bihar government claims to be the first state to start a language bridge course. Beginning mid-July, teachers in  government primary schools in Bihar will teach class one students Hindi equivalents for words in Bajjika, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Angika and Magahi. To support the implementation dictionaries in these languages are produced also. A quote from the article in The Indian Express : HRD Principal Secretary Amarjeet Sinha said, "As government schools have mostly students from villages, it's important to provide them a comfort level. They hardly speak Hindi. Teachers, with the aid of the dictionary, will help children pick up Hindi words. The dialect to Hindi dictionary will be primarily for teachers but can be referred to students as well. The idea is to minimise number of out-of-school children.