Category Archives: Multi-lingual education

“Language is a major issue. The tribal child in Bastar has to simultaneously contend with at least three languages: (a) his mother tongue that could be Gondi or Bhatri or Dorli or Dhurvi or Telga or Halbi (b) Halbi, which is the lingua franca in Bastar and (c) Hindi, the official medium of instruction. Add to this English, which is taught from Standard I.” – Uma Ram (Professor & Head Department of English, Kakatiya PG College, Chhattisgarh) in “Issues in Tribal Education in Bastar, Chhattisgarh” (Folklore Foundation, Lokaratna, Volume IV 2011)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=14683

“Medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue.” – The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 quoted in “Primary Education of Tribal Children” by Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 9 December 2019)
https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1595502
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=16476

“[Thakkar Bapa, who set up the influential ashramshala model, in a] 1941 lecture advocated using tribal tongues as a ‘bridge’, but in practice, even this did not happen.” – Felix Padel & Malvika Gupta in “Are mega residential schools wiping out India’s Adivasi culture?” (The Hindu, 13 February 2021)
https://www.thehindu.com/society/children-from-tribal-communities-are-being-corralled-into-mass-schools-that-are-wiping-out-cultures/article33818793.ece
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=21733

“The educational difficulties faced by tribals have been addressed through bilingual or multilingual programmes that start with education in the child’s mother tongue, then transit to the regional or state language, and finally progress to the study of English. This three-language formula, however, remains in an experimental stage, and its practice is limited to isolated pilot projects. […] There are 418 different tribes in India, with even more languages and dialects. Each group is also associated with a specific region through language, food habits, occupational characteristics and geography. To accommodate these diverse and culturally distinct communities with a single educational policy is a mammoth task, verging on the impossible.” –  Boro Baski in “Teaching Santal children” (D+C Development and Cooperation, 2 July 2009)
https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/long-term-success-non-formal-adivasi-school-west-bengal
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=2274

“To be taught in a language other than one’s own has a negative effect on learning. [Starting a child’s education in the mother tongue] allows teachers and students to interact naturally and negotiate meanings together, creating participatory learning environments that are conducive to cognitive as well as linguistic development.”- UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2016 quoted “Why is India obsessed with English-medium education – when it goes against scientific consensus?” by Shoaib Daniyal (Scroll.in 6 August 2020
https://scroll.in/article/969356/why-is-india-obsessed-with-english-medium-education-when-it-goes-against-scientific-consensus
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=7707

“There is no script in most Adivasi languages, they are phonetically driven. In 2018, a dictionary in Gondi was released by Kannada University in Hampi. There is a need to preserve these languages and to ensure that children who have grown up speaking such languages don’t feel left out at schools […] In schools, teachers often have a hard time connecting with students because of the language divide [and] children just kept repeating […] without understanding a word.” – Dada Jokal, author of several books in Gondi and who now teaches school teachers the language in “Chhattisgarh: Tribal languages to be a medium of education in pre-school” (Indian Express, 17 February 2020)
https://indianexpress.com/article/governance/chhattisgarh-education-reforms-tribal-languages-to-be-a-medium-of-education-in-pre-school-6271547/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22893

“If you map the parts of India where illiteracy is highest, you will find that it matches the parts where the mother tongues of children are different from the official language.” – Ganesh [G.N.] Devy (linguist, Unesco Linguapax laureate and founder of the Vadodara-based Bhasha Research and Publication Trust) in: “How Tribal Kids in MP Are Getting a Chance to Learn in Their Languages” (thebetterindia.com, 2 August 2017)
https://www.thebetterindia.com/110025/books-tribal-languages-help-rejuvenate-school-learning-central-india/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22755

“[T]he poorer and backward sections of [Gadchiroli district’s Madia Gondi] society tend to think that the state language is a tool to move upward in class and caste hierarchy, that the local, indigenous language is inferior and imitating the upper classes will elevate them in the societal hierarchy. To break this myth, Lok Biradari Ashram School plans to change the language of instruction for kindergarten students from Marathi to Madia.” – Samiksha Godse-Amte in “Nurturing one’s own tongue” (The Hindu, 3 April 2013)
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/nurturing-ones-own-tongue/article4575333.ece
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=16208

“Many children speak a home language that differs from the language of instruction in education programs. Research confirms that children learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of bilingual and multilingual education. […] If they continue to have opportunities to develop their first language skills in secondary school, they emerge as fully bilingual (or multilingual) learners. If, however, children are forced to switch abruptly or transition too soon from learning in their mother tongue to schooling in a second language, their first language acquisition may be attenuated or even lost. Even more importantly, their self-confidence as learners and their interest in what they are learning may decline, leading to lack of motivation, school failure, and early school leaving.” – Unesco report by Jessica Ball titled “Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds: Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in early childhood and early primary school years”
UNESCO Mother-tongue based EY 2010.pdf
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=16476