Multilingual Education and India

Creativity comes so much more naturally when we use our heart languages. Creative writing is part of that, and therefore it is good to note the PALASH initiative (Jharkhand) efforts to get the children to write their own books is bearing fruit: One of their books won an international prize. Let's celebrate with them, but also challenge ourselves as only 1 book from India was chosen, while several other countries had multiple finalists.  In a milestone for indigenous literature and mother-tongue education, a Santhali-language storybook created entirely by schoolgirls from Jharkhand has been selected for the IBBY-UNESCO Collection of Remarkable Books for Young Readers in Indigenous and Endangered Languages . Out of hundreds of global entries, this student-led creation now stands among roughly 170 titles representing over 150 indigenous and endangered languages worldwide. Titled "Rimil Aar Chasha Hodo" (The Cloud and the Farmer), the book was authored and illustrated by yo...

Textbooks in Jharkhand Earlier this week the governor of Jharkhand pleaded that Santhali children should be educated in their mother tongue. It looks like this is indeed going to happen and not only for Santhali, but also Mundari, Ho, Kudukh and Kharia children . The Telegraph reports this week: Ethnic kids of Classes I & II to open new page next year . Binay Pattanayak and his team at the Unicef Jharkhand office has been working closely with the Jharkhand Council for Education, Research and Training (JCERT) to prepare textbooks for langauge and maths for class 1 and 2 in five tribal langauges. The plan is that they will be introduced from the next academic session onwards.

Dear multilingual education friends, Good news from Orissa. Chief Secretary Sri Bijay Kumar Patnaik has directed OPEPA to develop bilingual primers in tribal dialects for children from Class-1 to Class-III and cover all the schools having 100% monolingual tribal students. He also  directed to OPEPA to customize the Anganwadi study guide (Arunimain) in tribal languages in the context of their culture. The stories, rhymes, dance performances, folk-lores of the tribe concerned will be reflected in this.  In another development, nine new  tribal languages have been identified for inclusion in Multi  Lingual Education programme. These languages are Gutob, Ho, Gondi, Parja,Khaira, Didayita, Chhatisgarhi Odia, Binjhal (western Odisha) and Binjhal (for Bargarh region).