Multilingual Education and India

Dear MLE friends, Congratulations, today is Mother Language Day ! This occasion started in our neighbouring country, Bangladesh. Read more about how they are marking this day (including a summary of the history): http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=187834&cid=2 A UNESCO focussed press release is here: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/305367/international-mother-language-day Enjoy this day, talk about it will colleagues and celebrate your own Mother Tongue!

Dear MLE Friends , Some state governments take the language of instruction issue of the Right to Education Act quite seriously. According to the Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to have the teachers use the local languages in teaching the different subjects in the schools. If this is indeed going to get implemented that would be very innovative. Books and articles The MLE-india.blogspot.com site now has a separate page on MLE related books and articles . Check it out and let us know if relevant publications are missing. See Full article in Hindi

Dear MLE friends, A new book is coming out which is focusing in the linguistic minorities in India and on the policies related to that in particular: Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India: An Appraisal of the Linguistic Rights of Minorities in India Thomas Benedikter You might place an advanced booking as that will give you a good discount. See details below.

Dear MLE friends, Research outside of the western countries on the impact of education in the mother tongue is much needed. Below are some links to research presently going on in Africa.   EdQual is a research project consortium funded by DfID, studying education quality in low-income countries. On 15 November, it reported to DfID and other interested agencies along with 2 other research project consortia. As part of the EdQual programme, colleagues from Ghana and Tanzania looked into issues of medium of instruction and its relation to quality of learning. If you are interested in interim findings to do with MoI and textbook accessibility, please use the following links: http://www.edqual.org/publications/presentations/textbooks.pdf http://www.edqual.org/publications/presentations/Langofinstruction.pdf

Dear MLE friends, Each year ASER does extensive research on the impact that education makes. Their research data is highly valued, not only in the NGO world but also by the government itself. The 2010 report shows as well progress as declines. The press report states regarding the reading skills: Even after five years in school, close to half of all children are not even at the level expected of them after two years in school. Only 53.4% children in Std V could read a Std II level text. The Calcutta edition of the Telegraph reports " Tribal heartland betters its report card ", this is given as the reason: Santhal Pargana Gram Rachna Sansthan, the NGO that helped in survey work in Godda, credited the district's performance to maximum involvement of para-teachers, school teachers and Integrated Child Development Services centres. These units, set up under a Centre-sponsored scheme, addresses healt...

Dear MLE friends, For most of us the preservation of languages is not the main reason to be interested in MLE. Still we do see the value of language in relation to culture. The January Issue of the Indian version of the magazine GEO has a cover story on "Unspoken tongues'. Some relevant quotes: Few actually realise that languages are more than just a means of communication. They are emblematic of the way a people perceive the world and, thereby. offer a unique insight into the people who speak them and the cultures they represent. In the case of Bo and other Great Andamanese languages, they hold up a mirror to a tribal people whose culture dates back thousands of years. Kanji Patel, a writer in Panchmahali Bhili, one of Gujarat's many endangered languages, says there are three fundamentals requi...

Dear MLE friends, Last July the list forwarded a news item from The Hindu on new tribal scripts. I just learned that last October also Outlook wrote an article on this. See: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?267220 . A quote: “A script serves to legalise their language and protect their vast oral riches. But, more importantly, there is now a growing realisation that an indigenous, independent script also helps boost cultural identity,” says Sree. She uses easily identifiable symbols in her alphabets to strike a chord with the tribals. For example, an abstract bow and arrow is a motif in her script for the Kupias, who are renowned as skilled archers. New scripts are not for assertion of identity alone: they are also being created for accurately representing the unique sounds of tribal languages instead of letting them be drowned out, over time and...