Table 1: Linguistic Contexts <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Case</strong> <strong>Studies</strong>COUNTRIES LANGUAGES LITERACY (%) POPULATION #Officiallanguages+Living languages* Extinct languages * Male # Female#Bangladesh 2 39 - 53.9% 31.8% 147,365,352Cambodia 1 21 - 84.7% 64.1% 13,881,427China 1 235 1 95.1% 86.5% 1,313,973,713India 22 415 13 70.2% 48.3% 1,095,351,995Indonesia 1 737 5 92.5% 83.4% 245,452,739Nepal 1 123 3 62.7% 34.9% 28,287,147Thailand 2 74 - 94.9% 90.5% 64,631,595Source: * Ethnologue# www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/countrylisting.html+ These countries also have national language(s), which in many cases overlap with <strong>of</strong>ficial language.For instance, even a relatively small country like Nepal has 123 living languages, but three otherlanguages have either become extinct or remain only as spoken languages. Linguistic diversity is anequally big challenge in these countries, not only because <strong>of</strong> the complex logistics it demands, butalso because <strong>of</strong> the sheer number involved. For instance, in large countries like India and China, even5-10 percent <strong>of</strong> a population could mean more than 100 million people belonging to linguistic minoritygroups. No national programme <strong>of</strong> education can ignore this reality if Education for All goals are to carryany meaning. To what extent do the national policies on language use respond to the linguistic diversitycharacterizing the Asia and Pacific countries? This is explored in the next section.An Overview <strong>of</strong> Language PolicyBangladesh introduced the Compulsory Primary Education Act in 1993 with a view to achievingEducation for All goals. Though free education - including free textbooks and a food-for-educationprogramme - has been introduced to move in this direction, no particular attention has been given tothe needs <strong>of</strong> the ethno-linguistic indigenous communities in the country. The situation is quite dismalbecause approximately 80 percent <strong>of</strong> adivasi (original tribal inhabitants) children drop out <strong>of</strong> schoolwithout completing even the primary cycle. This is <strong>of</strong>ten due to feelings <strong>of</strong> discrimination, povertyand problems <strong>of</strong> non-comprehension. However, initiatives have been taken in recent years under theauspices <strong>of</strong> UNESCO, UNICEF and SIL Bangladesh to create awareness about education among theadivasi communities and Bangladeshi society, at large. Various NGOs are also operating schools for theadivasi population in their own language, with a view to increasing their participation in schools andenhancing their learning levels.The Indian Constitution recognizes 22 major languages as national languages. Each <strong>of</strong> these languagesis spoken by a large number <strong>of</strong> people inhabiting one or more states, and are recognized as the <strong>of</strong>ficiallanguages <strong>of</strong> those respective states. Linguistic minorities have to be, therefore, identified vis-à-vis the<strong>of</strong>ficial languages <strong>of</strong> different states. Recognizing the need for special efforts to protect the interests <strong>of</strong>the linguistic minorities, the Indian Constitution states: “It shall be the endeavor <strong>of</strong> every state and <strong>of</strong>every local authority within the state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongueat the primary stage to children belonging to linguistic minority groups.” Does this arrangement fullytake care <strong>of</strong> the linguistic minority groups’ need to receive education through their mother tongue? Not[8 ]
fully. The constitutional commitment is only to create the scope, but it does not make it mandatory forthe state education system to make necessary arrangements. The issue has captured the attention <strong>of</strong>some <strong>of</strong> the state governments, which have begun to experiment with bilingual education programmesin languages other than the <strong>of</strong>ficial state languages. Such efforts are far too few, however, to reach thevastly diverse minority linguistic groups whose number runs to more than a thousand. Consequently,large numbers <strong>of</strong> children belonging to linguistic minority groups are compelled to receive educationthrough a language different from their mother tongue. Further, quite <strong>of</strong>ten even facilities for learningtheir mother tongue are absent for most <strong>of</strong> these ethno-linguistic groups because they do not find aplace in the 3-language formula adopted as the national policy for language learning in schools.In terms <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficial language policy, China presents a stark contrast to the Indian setting, though bothhave a huge population <strong>of</strong> more than one billion. The Chinese Constitution allows all nationalities thefreedom to use and develop their languages, including the freedom to use the nationality languagesas media <strong>of</strong> instruction where conditions permit. However, in many places, and for various reasons, themultilingual education implied in the Constitution has not been implemented. Though with demandfor mother tongue-<strong>based</strong> instruction rising, China too has come forward with bilingual programmes.Having adopted a mono-language policy across the whole country for a long period <strong>of</strong> time, thesituation poses serious challenges for policy makers in the country. The country has more than 200living languages spoken altogether by about 4 percent <strong>of</strong> the population; Chinese is the mother tongue<strong>of</strong> the remaining 96 percent. As a result, education is transacted across the country in an essentiallymono-lingual environment.The Constitution <strong>of</strong> Nepal (1990) provides the right for every group <strong>of</strong> people to promote and protecttheir own language and scripts and mother tongue education. Successive education plans have alsoemphasized mother tongue education. Keeping these policy commitments in view, education materialsfor primary education have been developed in recent years in seven minority languages, namely Newari,Maithali, Tharu, Abhadhi, Limbu, Tamang, and Bhojpuri under the Basic and Primary Education Project(BPEP) I and II from1991 to 2001. <strong>Studies</strong> have noticed positive changes among community members’attitude towards education <strong>of</strong> their children. Also they have been taking interest in literacy classesthrough non-formal education organized by local governmental and non-governmental agencies. Animportant aspect <strong>of</strong> this development is that most <strong>of</strong> the children and adults who are benefiting fromthe provision <strong>of</strong> mother tongue-<strong>based</strong> education belong to highly deprived ethno-linguistic groups.The Constitution <strong>of</strong> Thailand states with regard to the rights <strong>of</strong> traditional communities and theircultures as:“Persons so assembling as to be a traditional community shall havthe right to conserve orrestore their customs, local knowledge, arts or good culture <strong>of</strong> their community and <strong>of</strong> thenation and participate in the management, maintenance, preservation and exploitation <strong>of</strong>natural resources and the environment in a balanced fashion and persistently as providedby law.”(Government Gazette, 1997)[9 ]
- Page 1 and 2: Mother Tongue-basedLiteracy Program
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- Page 22 and 23: their normal lives and communicatio
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- Page 55 and 56: Awareness Creation and Opinion Form
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- Page 63 and 64: BackgroundCurrent Situation of Mino
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Process and Cost of Developing and
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vocabulary, containing only sounds
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Impact of the ProjectImpact on Educ
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NetworkingThe MoEYS and UNESCO have
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Komly Boek: Bilingual NFE TeacherMy
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© Norman Geary
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BackgroundThe Kam 1 of south centra
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‘Rice feeds the body, songs feed
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(Putonghua) in education. Neverthel
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do anything else with Chinese. Now
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eading material in their own langua
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Kam Children SingThe singing classe
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Thus, the book-fees for a child to
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advisers to the Project since its b
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Capacity to Learn the National Lang
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they were persuaded of its value (t
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detached from the village and diffe
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© State Resource Centre Assam
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BackgroundIndia is home to a large
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In the case of adult literacy, we h
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Curriculum and Learning Materials D
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About 70 volunteer teachers were en
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The majority of the learners have c
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the regional language and finally t
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[ 108 ]© BP-PLSP
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In attempting to meet one of the go
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Indonesian Policies on Mother Tongu
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Nature and LivelihoodCommunity peop
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No. Material Time1. The Policy of S
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Networking with CommunityMembers, G
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BP-PLSP Region II has distributed a
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Impact of theProgrammeThe KFBI prog
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Phase II. Learning activities inclu
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After learning some skills, learner
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© BASE
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© BASEBackground‘If we stop usin
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een forced into bonded labor. Cultu
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cows, bulls, sheep, and goats) kept
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Most of the NFE programmes implemen
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The Key Word Approach was used whil
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how to read and write which helps t
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In short, the Tharu mother tongue l
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© ONFEC
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In 2006, Thailand celebrated an aus
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Minister of Education Chaturong Cha
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All of the NPKOM teachers have asso
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simple sentence structures and much
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Teaching Plan: Bridging to the Nati
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Impact of the ProjectImpact on Educ
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een minimal, as books developed by
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Annexes
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Annex 2: ReferencesMother Tongue Li
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Lindholm-Leary, K. 2001. Dual Langu