Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

Table 1: Linguistic Contexts of the Case StudiesCOUNTRIES 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 official 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 of the complex logistics it demands, butalso because of the sheer number involved. For instance, in large countries like India and China, even5-10 percent of a population could mean more than 100 million people belonging to linguistic minoritygroups. No national programme of 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 of 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 of the ethno-linguistic indigenous communities in the country. The situation is quite dismalbecause approximately 80 percent of adivasi (original tribal inhabitants) children drop out of schoolwithout completing even the primary cycle. This is often due to feelings of discrimination, povertyand problems of non-comprehension. However, initiatives have been taken in recent years under theauspices of 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 of these languagesis spoken by a large number of people inhabiting one or more states, and are recognized as the officiallanguages of those respective states. Linguistic minorities have to be, therefore, identified vis-à-vis theofficial languages of different states. Recognizing the need for special efforts to protect the interests ofthe linguistic minorities, the Indian Constitution states: “It shall be the endeavor of every state and ofevery 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 of the linguistic minority groups’ need to receive education through their mother tongue? Not[8 ]