Linguistic diversity and policy in India

India is a mosaic of linguistic diversity. None of its 1,600 languages, grouped somewhat arbitrarily into 114 groups, has a clear majority. Yet children often start school in a language that is not their mother tongue.

Children from non-dominant groups are particularly disadvantaged, including India's Scheduled Tribes, those living in remote areas, migrants from states with different official languages (a child from Maharashtra living in Gujarat, for example) and those living on the edges of large cities.

The question of which languages are most suitable for instruction has long been a central issue. It is now even more important in the context of Education for All and improving educational access and quality.

Most states decide their own medium or mediums of instruction (MOI) for primary schools. While national policy recommends using the mother tongue as the MOI in primary schools, state policy varies for lack of implementation guidelines. States often designate the official state language (such as Tamil in Tamil Nadu) as MOI or even, increasingly, English.

What does this mean in practice?

Two broad patterns emerge:

• In the first, teachers use only the standard language, prohibiting local languages in the classroom.
• In the second pattern, the mother tongue is used informally - where the MOI is one language (English in Jammu and Kashmir, for example, with textbooks in English) and teachers teach and explain in the local language.

In both situations children struggle to understand a new language rather than learn the concepts being taught in a language they understand. Attempts to introduce higher-quality teaching practices are therefore wasted due to lack of communication.

Recommendations

Alternative approaches to submersion need exploring. Carefully planned bilingual models should be developed through strategies that:

• identify linguistic groups and the language abilities of children aged five to six through sociolinguistic mapping
• ensure that linguistic diversity is reflected in the local and district education plans required for annual allocation of resources
• develop language profiles of students, involving teachers and children
• incorporate local education strategies in response to identified needs, including effective bilingual models and programmes
• develop innovative responses, through action research, to demands in areas where children have two or more first languages
• recruit and support local bilingual teachers to get full teaching qualifications
• sensitise education officials, planners and trainers to the crucial importance of the first language for cognitive development and acquisition of additional languages
• train and support strong first and second language teaching methodologies
• promote policies and norms across states that support learning in linguistic minority groups within schools.

Some of the above approaches are being piloted in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. The challenge lies in scaling up these interventions in an integrated manner for long term sustainability of language-in-education practices.

Dhir Jhingran
Elementary Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, India
djhingran@nic.in

Shireen Vakil Miller
Save the Children India, A-20 2nd Floor, Kailash Colony, New Delhi 110048, India
s.miller@scfukindia.org

See also

Language Disadvantage: the Learning Challenge in Primary Education, APH Publishing Corporation: New Delhi, by Dhir Jhingran, 2005

Language and Education: Meeting the Needs of Linguistic Minorities in Delhi, unpublished dissertation, Institute of Education, University of London, by Shireen Miller, 2005

Views expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of DFID, IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions. Copyright remains with the original authors but (unless stated otherwise) any article may be copied or quoted without restriction, provided both source (id21, insights) and authors are properly acknowledged and informed. Copyright © 2006 id21. All rights reserved.