Challenges in Multilingual Education CG

8/12/2019 Challenges in Multilingual Education CG

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Challenges in Multilingual Education

Some Critical Questions

Views from the field

Odisha and Chhattishgarh

Mahendra Kumar MishraState Head

ICICI Foundation , SCERT, Raipur

[email protected]



Consider

• In New York city schools 47 % children in primary

schools are non-white

• In London 30 % children in primary schools are

from Asia ( Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi)

• In Gadchiroli – about 60 % children are tribal andthey don’t understand Marathi,

• In Bastar , 70 % children don’t understand

classroom language in class I – III

• In Odisha about 8 lakh tribal children don’t

understand Odiya in primary schools

• African countries revealed that their primary

education is failing in mostly tribal areas



Why ?

• Language of children is different from the language

of teaching/ text book

• Medium of instruction is the state official language

which does not help the linguistic minority children

• Curriculum and text books are uniform and unsuitable fordiverse group of children

• Teacher education is silent about the language

pedagogy( most of the children fail in language- let alone tospeak of language of science and math..

They take shelter of rote memory ..(abhikriyatmakrasayan,bichhedan, bighatan,swasan,many more….)



• Language as the marker of capturing and

perpetuating knowledge has many thing to

contribute to learning of the children .

•

In fact experience is not instrumental tolearning but experience itself is learning.

• Children learn with this world without a threat

of watchful eyes, but in an environment where

re-cognition is attached to life.

• In the school some authority is teaching them

Experiential learning



• IN what language the children learn?

• What is the context of a subject or topic of a text book

when we teach? Do these texts represent the everyday

life experience of the children?

• Do the children able to think in a language that theydon’t practice in their home?

• Do the teachers speak in the language that children

understand? in what language we teach the children?

• Do the teachers’ feel that the scientific languages of

math and science are intelligible to the students?

Some thoughts….



Two situation

•

Situation- 1Children don’t know my language , How can they

learn. I am not responsible for their failure.

• Situation – 2

I don’t know the children’s language and culture

How can I teach them?

which one is child centric?



7

Existing school with blocking the learning



8

Results…

•High dropouts

• Low achievement

• Failure in achieving national goal

• Loss of human resource

• Increase in social discrimination

• Blocking education and literacy

• Non participation of community

• Violation of children's linguistic and cultural right



9

Constitutional Obligations

• Art.46 – State to promote the Educational Need of the

Weaker sections of the society (SC & ST)

•Art.350-A – Adequate facilities for instruction in mother

tongue at the Primary stage of education to children of

Linguistic Minority groups

• Art.21-A – Free & Compulsory Elementary education of

equitable Quality for all children upto 14 yrs of age



10

Quotes from the National Curriculum

Framework - 2005

• Language of the children :

• The mother tongue is a critical conduit () for enabling children to

construct their own knowledge. Foreword, page 4)

• Cultural context of the children:

• curricula, syllabi, and textbooks should enable the teacher in

organizing classroom experiences in consonance with the child’s

nature and environment, and thus providing opportunities for all

children. (Executive Summary, page 8)



RtE - 2009

Art29 Mother tongue should be imparted to

children as far as practicable



SSA GoalEducation for equity of access to equity of opportunity and equity of out

come(dalits,girls,adivasi,minorities, CWSN,urban deprived children,migrants

children)

Education for quality - better pedagogical input in teaching learning process (

not counting the incentives)

MLE in Odisha

SSA Odisha adopted tribal education in 10 languages from class I to Class V

from 2006-07 till now 544 schools

32000 Tribal children

873 teachers from tribal communities

Now on 31st July Govt. of Odisha adopted more 1000 schools and posted

5000 tribal teachers in MLE schools



Dantewada- 78%, Bastar 66 %

Jashpur :63% Kanker: 56%

Sarguja 55% Korea 44 %

Besides some small groups are scattered

Literacy 52 %( MP)

31 tribes- literacy highest 33 % lowest 19%

Chhatishgarhi language spoken by about 2crores people belong to Indo Aryan

language group

Can we ignore these language resources of the children and claim child

centred pedagogy( CCP)?

Can we say that CCP is possible with out a communicative language of the

children?

Is it not true that language of TB is teacher centric? Or even pedo-centric?

Linguistic Situation in CG



Policy or Progrmme?

Efforts for MLE in CG

• In 2008 - Govt of CG notified for 25 % diverse languages

to be used as MT in primary classes

• Primers for class I and II in minority languages

• 25 % texts for class III- V students in children’s lang.

• CG Government has policy paper, but programme is not

running in schools

• Orissa /AP has no policy but programme is running through

SSA in 1000 schools



What is MLE ?

• First language of child is first language of learning –child’s

right to learn in her MT

•Maintenance of more than one language in classroom

with out killing the minority languages and culture.

• Language as a subject and language as medium

• Children learn as many language in natural situation

• Learning is contextual – situated cognition





Some misconception on MLE

• MLE is to teach the children only in their mother

tongue but to teach Hindi and English equally.

• MLE is against mainstreaming

• MLE is only for the tribal

•

MLE is not compatible to mainstream curriculum and text

books



What MLE can do

• It will help all children in learning easily and achieve better

• get access to local knowledge and connect with school knowledge

• community knowledge will be helpful to school

• Build solidarity between many language and social groups

• Address diversities of culture and language

• Make the school suitable for children’s learning from their cultural

context

• Remove rote memory and promote comprehension from MT to OTs

• Foster cultural democracy than A top down approached education





Lok Srujan

SRUJAN

Community

TeachersChild

FriendlyActivities

Preparation of

Bilingual TLM

Community

Resource

Reading room

Attitudinal

Training

(Rupantar)

PRI Involvement

Jati MahasabhaStory Telling Festival

Traditional Game

Song and Dance

Art and Craft

Science QuizEssay and Debate

SRUJAN



21

SRUJAN

Based on NCF 2005 ideas

School

MLE

RUPANTARSrujan



22Story telling Festival



23

3D wall paintings: Santal art



24

Traditional wall paintings : Geometry?







Thank youNamaste

Johar

Limtam

Documents

Challenges in Multilingual Education CG