Multilingual Education and India

2015 Mother Language Day Every year after Feb 21st, the International Mother Language Day, it is fun to surf the internet to see what is done in India to celebrate the languages that the children speak at home.   This year the United Nations has put the spotlights on the educational aspect of celebrating the mother tongue: " International Mother Language Day is a moment for all of us to raise the flag for the importance of mother tongue to all educational efforts, to enhance the quality of learning and to reach the unreached. Every girl and boy, every woman and man must have the tools to participate fully in the lives of their societies – this is a basic human right and it is a force for the sustainability of all development " ( UN Source ) The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has send a notice to the English medium schools affiliated with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to mark the occasion with celebrations and contests. The notice r

  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 governmen

                                  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 language has not only proved effective but also helped increase the quality of education." Fun to read that in this Magar community the program has motivated

    National Geographic Reports on MLE in Assam National Geographic published last month a brief article on the multilingual educations program the NGO  PAJHRA  is doing among the tea planters in Assam.   The article titled " A Talk over Tea: Preserving India's Indigenous Languages" states: " Although Adivasis account for about 20 percent of the population, most local schools do not teach in Adivasi languages. Dropout rates are

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