(Excerpts from Why Language Matters for the Millennium Development Goals, published by UNESCO, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Klongtoey Bangkok 10110, Thailand)
Education is one of the most important ways for people to move out of poverty, and a strong basic education is the first step. Children who receive a good educational foundation at pre-primary and primaryschool levels are in a much better position when they go on to navigatelife’s challenges as adults.
Significant progress is being made on MDG 2. Yet data indicates that an estimated 67 million of the world’s children are still not enrolled in primary education. Many children who do enrol in school later drop out. Children from ethnolinguistic minorities—and especially girls—are disproportionately represented among those who are not receiving any, or adequate, education.
Why language is important?
Many children struggle at school when they are forced to learn in languages that are not their mother tongue. School systems that do not use learners’ own languages or respect their cultures make it extremely difficult for children to stay in school and learn. For individuals, communities and even whole ethnic minority groups, this contributes to perpetuating cycles of marginalization and discrimination. For countries, excluding large portions of the population from their right to good quality education can delay economic growth and perpetuate conflict and political instability.
A growing body of research worldwide demonstrates that instruction in the mother tongue, beginning in the first years of school and continuing for as long as possible, helps girls and boys in numerous ways. Teaching children for a recommended six to eight years in their mother tongue – as well as gradually introducing national or other dominant languages (sometimes called Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) – has the following outcomes:
Policy and practice
Policy
National education policies that prioritize learning in the mother tongue within a strategy to improve educational quality and access are in the political and economic interests of countries with high levels of linguistic diversity.
Sometimes governments fear that mother tongue-based education may have negative socio-political effects. And sometimes parents fear that mother tongue-based education may exclude their child from learning the dominant languages in their country, which are often pathways to jobs and wider opportunities.
A wide body of research suggests that in both cases the opposite is true. Fostering mother tongue-based education helps to reduce alienation and conflict. It better equips children to learn national and international languages, and improves overall performance. Finland, for example, is a leader in mother tongue-based education and also in academic excellence of secondary school children.
In the Asia-Pacific region, in 2009 the Philippines adopted a policy to institutionalize mother tongue-based multilingual education in all public and private schools, from pre-school to high school.
Announcing the new policy, the Department of Education stated, “The lessons and findings of various local initiatives and international studies in basic education have validated the superiority of the use of the learner’s mother tongue or first language in improving learning outcomes and promoting Education for All.
Development partners can support governments by promoting the use of appropriate languages as a central pillar in achieving education quality and inclusion. They can, for example, allocate a percentage of pooled education funds and basic education budgets to the development of mother tongue-based multilingual teaching and learning systems. In addition, they can work to ensure that coverage of primary education in the mother tongue is highlighted as an indicator of education quality.
Practice
There are many examples of successful mother tongue-based multilingual education programmes being implemented around the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, programmes have been implemented or are being planned in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand and Viet Nam, to name a few.
Many mother tongue-based education initiatives in developing and middle-income countries are, as yet, on a small scale. “Scaling up” such initiatives will be vital as countries strive to achieve MDG 2. Below are some of the examples of regional projects showing success.
Southern Thailand: Local language education fosters communityempowerment and supports conflict reduction
Language and identity are key issues in three provinces of Thailand’s deep south, where there has been ongoing political unrest. The local language and mother tongue of 83 percent of the million-plus population is Pattani Malay. However, the language has not been officially accepted or used in the education system. Ethnic language and culture are thus declining, and local communities have low self-confidence. There is chronic underachievement at school. A pilot programme introducing bilingual education is showing early success. Children in mother tongue-based programmes scored 35 percent higher on Thai language exams than children in traditional Thai-only classrooms.
Bangladesh: Children benefit from mother tongue education
Bangladesh has some 45 indigenous groups, 12 of which live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The official language of school instruction in Bangladesh is the national language, Bangla. Statistics indicate that around 60 percent of children from indigenous groups drop out of primary education. Working closely with local communities, and in a context of debate about appropriate approaches to education, language choices, writing systems and other matters, Save the Children started a culturally sensitive education programme for primary school children in three ethnic languages: Chakma, Tippera and Marma. The project confirmed that learning in the mother tongue supported the children in their education.
There was enthusiastic involvement from the local community. Lessons learned within the initiative indicated that six months is too short a “bridging period” between using the child’s first language and Bangla as a medium of instruction. A longer time span is necessary for children to feel confident in both languages.
In another initiative focusing on pre-school children, Save the Children and partner Zabayang Kalyan Samity found that children learning in the mother tongue significantly outperformed counterparts who were not taught in the mother tongue, in communications, language and literacy.
Nepal: Reading in the local language boosts child literacy
When Save the Children conducted literacy assessments in Nepal in 2008, it found that 42 percent of Grade 3 children in partner schools in Kailili could not read a single word. Most of those who were struggling to read were children whose mother tongue was not the language of instruction. This prompted intensive efforts to boost local language reading interventions through the development of a Literacy Boost programme. Begun in 2009, Literacy Boost’s design included local language materials development and provision, reading-focused instruction for classroom teachers, and community level reading activities run by local volunteers who could speak Tharu, the local mother tongue. Later testing showed that children in schools running the Literacy Boost programme performed much better in terms of fluency and accuracy than children in comparison schools. Save the Children has since expanded Literacy Boost to more parts of Nepal, including Bajura in the Far Western Region and Kapilvastu in the Western Region.
You may also like reading:
Rationale of Mother Tongue-Based Multi-lingual Education
Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement
Education is one of the most important ways for people to move out of poverty, and a strong basic education is the first step. Children who receive a good educational foundation at pre-primary and primaryschool levels are in a much better position when they go on to navigatelife’s challenges as adults.
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| Children are not alienated, eager to participate and learn more when taught in their mother tongue. |
Why language is important?
Many children struggle at school when they are forced to learn in languages that are not their mother tongue. School systems that do not use learners’ own languages or respect their cultures make it extremely difficult for children to stay in school and learn. For individuals, communities and even whole ethnic minority groups, this contributes to perpetuating cycles of marginalization and discrimination. For countries, excluding large portions of the population from their right to good quality education can delay economic growth and perpetuate conflict and political instability.
A growing body of research worldwide demonstrates that instruction in the mother tongue, beginning in the first years of school and continuing for as long as possible, helps girls and boys in numerous ways. Teaching children for a recommended six to eight years in their mother tongue – as well as gradually introducing national or other dominant languages (sometimes called Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) – has the following outcomes:
- Children receive a good foundation: When taught first in their own languages, children learn better, are more self-confident and are well equipped to transfer their literacy and numeracy skills to additional languages.
- Children perform better: Evidence from linguistically diverse countries worldwide shows that children taught first in their most familiar language are more likely to thrive and excel in school.
- Fewer children repeat grades: Studies have found that children who start formal education in a second or foreign language are more likely to repeat school years.
- Fewer children drop out of school: Children who start formal education in a second or foreign language are much more likely to experience frustration and failure, resulting in higher dropout rates for these children. Worldwide, some 50 percent of out-of-school children use a language at home that is not the language used in school.
- Children have more family support: When children learn in their mother tongue, parents and families can be involved and support their education. When children are learning in a second or foreign language, families are often excluded from the process.
- Cycles of exclusion are broken: By including families and drawing on local cultural heritage, mother tongue-based education contributes to communities’ social and cultural well-being and fosters inclusiveness within the wider society.
Policy and practice
Policy
National education policies that prioritize learning in the mother tongue within a strategy to improve educational quality and access are in the political and economic interests of countries with high levels of linguistic diversity.
Sometimes governments fear that mother tongue-based education may have negative socio-political effects. And sometimes parents fear that mother tongue-based education may exclude their child from learning the dominant languages in their country, which are often pathways to jobs and wider opportunities.
A wide body of research suggests that in both cases the opposite is true. Fostering mother tongue-based education helps to reduce alienation and conflict. It better equips children to learn national and international languages, and improves overall performance. Finland, for example, is a leader in mother tongue-based education and also in academic excellence of secondary school children.
In the Asia-Pacific region, in 2009 the Philippines adopted a policy to institutionalize mother tongue-based multilingual education in all public and private schools, from pre-school to high school.
Announcing the new policy, the Department of Education stated, “The lessons and findings of various local initiatives and international studies in basic education have validated the superiority of the use of the learner’s mother tongue or first language in improving learning outcomes and promoting Education for All.
Development partners can support governments by promoting the use of appropriate languages as a central pillar in achieving education quality and inclusion. They can, for example, allocate a percentage of pooled education funds and basic education budgets to the development of mother tongue-based multilingual teaching and learning systems. In addition, they can work to ensure that coverage of primary education in the mother tongue is highlighted as an indicator of education quality.
Practice
There are many examples of successful mother tongue-based multilingual education programmes being implemented around the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, programmes have been implemented or are being planned in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand and Viet Nam, to name a few.
Many mother tongue-based education initiatives in developing and middle-income countries are, as yet, on a small scale. “Scaling up” such initiatives will be vital as countries strive to achieve MDG 2. Below are some of the examples of regional projects showing success.
Southern Thailand: Local language education fosters communityempowerment and supports conflict reduction
Language and identity are key issues in three provinces of Thailand’s deep south, where there has been ongoing political unrest. The local language and mother tongue of 83 percent of the million-plus population is Pattani Malay. However, the language has not been officially accepted or used in the education system. Ethnic language and culture are thus declining, and local communities have low self-confidence. There is chronic underachievement at school. A pilot programme introducing bilingual education is showing early success. Children in mother tongue-based programmes scored 35 percent higher on Thai language exams than children in traditional Thai-only classrooms.
Bangladesh: Children benefit from mother tongue education
Bangladesh has some 45 indigenous groups, 12 of which live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The official language of school instruction in Bangladesh is the national language, Bangla. Statistics indicate that around 60 percent of children from indigenous groups drop out of primary education. Working closely with local communities, and in a context of debate about appropriate approaches to education, language choices, writing systems and other matters, Save the Children started a culturally sensitive education programme for primary school children in three ethnic languages: Chakma, Tippera and Marma. The project confirmed that learning in the mother tongue supported the children in their education.
There was enthusiastic involvement from the local community. Lessons learned within the initiative indicated that six months is too short a “bridging period” between using the child’s first language and Bangla as a medium of instruction. A longer time span is necessary for children to feel confident in both languages.
In another initiative focusing on pre-school children, Save the Children and partner Zabayang Kalyan Samity found that children learning in the mother tongue significantly outperformed counterparts who were not taught in the mother tongue, in communications, language and literacy.
Nepal: Reading in the local language boosts child literacy
When Save the Children conducted literacy assessments in Nepal in 2008, it found that 42 percent of Grade 3 children in partner schools in Kailili could not read a single word. Most of those who were struggling to read were children whose mother tongue was not the language of instruction. This prompted intensive efforts to boost local language reading interventions through the development of a Literacy Boost programme. Begun in 2009, Literacy Boost’s design included local language materials development and provision, reading-focused instruction for classroom teachers, and community level reading activities run by local volunteers who could speak Tharu, the local mother tongue. Later testing showed that children in schools running the Literacy Boost programme performed much better in terms of fluency and accuracy than children in comparison schools. Save the Children has since expanded Literacy Boost to more parts of Nepal, including Bajura in the Far Western Region and Kapilvastu in the Western Region.
You may also like reading:
Rationale of Mother Tongue-Based Multi-lingual Education
Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement
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