Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

REACHING THE MARGINALIZEDGetting left behindin marginalization in countries where ethnicityand language are strongly associated with socialdeprivation.The sheer scale of linguistic diversity in the worldtoday and its consequences for achievement ineducation are not sufficiently recognized. Thereare nearly 7,000 spoken languages. Every worldregion is multilingual. Sub-Saharan Africa has1,200 to 2,000 languages (Alidou et al., 2006).Cameroon alone has more than 200 languages,of which thirty-eight are written. In East Asia,Thailand has over seventy and Indonesia morethan 737. Latin America’s indigenous peoplesspeak an estimated 551 languages (Dutcher, 2004).Education systems seldom reflect linguisticdiversity. Many countries stress the importanceof children learning in their mother tongue orhome language. Nevertheless, about 221 millionschool age children speak languages that areused at home but not recognized in schoolsor official settings (Dutcher, 2004).The degree of alignment between home andschool language has a critical bearing on learningopportunities. Children who study in their mothertongue usually learn better and faster than childrenstudying in second languages (UNESCO Bangkok,2008; Woldemikael, 2003). Pupils who start learningin their home language also perform better in teststaken in the official language of instruction later intheir school careers (UNESCO Bangkok, 2008). Thebenefits extend beyond cognitive skills to enhancedself-confidence, self-esteem and classroomparticipation (Alidou et al., 2006).Decades of cognitive research have establishedthe language conditions most conducive tolearning (Alidou et al., 2006; Dutcher, 2004;UNESCO Bangkok, 2008). Translating thosefindings into policies that create an enablingenvironment for ethnic and linguistic minoritiesis not straightforward. Linguistic diversity createschallenges within the education system, notablyin areas such as teacher recruitment, curriculumdevelopment and the provision of teachingmaterials. Moreover, language policy in educationis not just about learning but is intimately wrappedup in power relationships and history.In many countries, the dominant languages usedin education are connected with social, political andcultural subjugation. Colonization has left a deepimprint. For most pupils entering primary schoolin francophone Africa, French is still their firstlanguage of instruction (Alidou et al., 2006). Duringthe 1880s, authorities in New Zealand banned theteaching or use of the Māori language in nativeschools, arguing that it was an impediment to‘national progress’. One hundred years later, thelanguage was spoken by less than one-quarter ofthe Māori population and drifting towards extinction(Wurm, 1991). Across much of Latin America,language was key to the exclusion and exploitationof indigenous people by Spanish-mestizo elites(Klein, 2003). Indigenous organizations in the regionhave seen ‘decolonization of the school’ as a vitalpart of wider political emancipation.Governments have often seen the forging ofa common linguistic identity as crucial to thedevelopment of a national identity (Daftary and Grin,2003). The Turkish Constitution of 1923 includes aprovision that ‘no language other than Turkish shallbe taught as mother tongue to Turkish citizens atany institutions of teaching or education’ (Kaya,2009, p. 8). While legislation adopted in 2002 allowsgreater flexibility, access to minority languageprimary education remains limited.Language policy in education raises complexissues and potential tensions between groupidentity on the one hand, and social and economicaspirations on the other. Parents in many countriesexpress a strong preference for their children tolearn in the official language, principally becausethis is seen as a route to enhanced prospects forsocial mobility (Alidou et al., 2006; Cueto et al.,2009; Linehan, 2004). Labour market factors oftenfigure prominently. In response to changing jobopportunities and the earnings premium associatedwith use of English, lower-caste girls and youngwomen in Mumbai are switching from primaryand secondary schools teaching in Marathi to thoseteaching in English (Munshi and Rosenzweig, 2003).Education systems have to perform a delicatebalancing act. First and foremost, they need tocreate the enabling conditions for effective learning.Ideally, this implies learning the official languageas a subject in primary school while receivinginstruction in the home language. It also impliesa school curriculum that teaches the majoritypopulation respect for ethnic minority languageand culture. But education systems also haveto ensure that children from disadvantagedminority backgrounds learn the skills they needto participate successfully in social and economiclife, including language skills.About 221 millionschool agechildren speaklanguages at homethat are notrecognized inschools or officialsettings173