Multilingual Education and India

For years we have said that basic training in multilingual education is needed in Hindi.  Last month this finally became a reality.  Though quite small scale,  a good step in the right direction to equip teachers,  trainers and NGO staff.   The recent Hindi MLE and Translanguaging Course, hosted by Nirmaan in partnership with SIL in Udaipur Rajasthan, provided an intensive, week-long professional development opportunity for educators to explore the intersections of multilingualism and classroom pedagogy. The workshop was structured to bridge the gap between academic theory and practical, "on-the-ground" teaching strategies. Participants consisted of direct MLE practitioners, implementors, teachers, researchers from across Indian states such as Assam, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra , SCERT officials from Rajasthan.  Participants began the week by grounding themselves in the fundamentals for Multilingual Education (MLE), exploring learning theori...

I’m glad to pass along an opportunity that will be of interest to many working in multilingual education: a  Hindi-medium Multilingual Education (MLE) Workshop  has been scheduled for  April 6–11, 2026 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. This workshop will be especially meaningful for those who are managing MLE projects, designing multilanguage teaching programs, teachers and all those who want to learn more about multilingual education. The format is a  four-day MLE workshop , followed by a  two-day training on Translanguaging pedagogy. 👉  Registration is now open.( Form link ) Please watch  Nirmaan’s page  for updates and further details. Please share the workshop banners widely within your networks. —Karsten,  On behalf of the  LEAD-India Steering Committee

Learning new things from a webinar can be quite enriching. Presenting at a webinar is even a richer experience: Recently I helped design and execute a webinar for the Early Learning Network of India (ELNI) hosted by Tata Trust. Good to talk about the reasons for and the principles for using the local languages in the classroom! The Early Learning Network of India (ELNI) invited education specialists to provide a global perspective in integrating local languages into early education for a webinar. The ELNI, supported by Tata Trusts, regularly hosts webinars focused on early literacy and the use of local languages in classrooms. These sessions bring together educators, researchers, and policymakers to share international and national insights on multilingual education. The ELNI is led by Dr. Shailaja Menon, and promotes early literacy through teacher development and multilingual, research-informed practices in collaboration with institutions and NGOs. During this presentation the topics ...