Can the fighters for mother tongue education please convince the government to have a look at the success of mother tongue teaching in our Brics member, India?
India has a total of 1,006 languages and dialects and still affords mother tongue education to all its children? How does it do it?
The different states (the equivalent of our provinces, but a little more federal in nature) each have their own language policy that must be adhered to within the so-called three-language policy of the national government.
This entails: Mother tongue teaching when a child goes to school. In cases where it is impossible because of complex logistics, the child adapts to the area’s main language.
A compulsory second language, namely one of the two “communicative languages” through which the central government of Delhi communicates with the country, namely Hindi or English. This language is incorporated somewhere between the first and fifth school year. Each state decides for itself when.
A compulsory third language later. Here the choice is wide and mostly depends on the availability of teachers. It can either be the “communicative language” not chosen, or the language of the neighbouring state, or Arabic or Parsi or a European language, or even Sanskrit, still spoken in Hindu temples, etc.
A huge state, like the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, has Tamil and English as official languages and many schools learn Kanada, the language of the neighbouring state of Kanataka (in which Bangalore is set) as a third language.
Malayalam is the language of the southwestern state of Kerela. Here the official languages are Malayalam and English and one of several others available in the state as a third language.
Hindi is the mother tongue of Delhi and region but English joins Hindi as the official languages of Haryana, the state in which Delhi is located.
Note that India’s economic growth projection for this year is 6.5% vs 1% for SA, just in case you thought mother tongue education does not contribute to the economy.
Maphula Olivier, Pretoria
READER LETTER | India is doing great with mother tongue education
Image: 123RF/arrowsmith2
Can the fighters for mother tongue education please convince the government to have a look at the success of mother tongue teaching in our Brics member, India?
India has a total of 1,006 languages and dialects and still affords mother tongue education to all its children? How does it do it?
The different states (the equivalent of our provinces, but a little more federal in nature) each have their own language policy that must be adhered to within the so-called three-language policy of the national government.
This entails: Mother tongue teaching when a child goes to school. In cases where it is impossible because of complex logistics, the child adapts to the area’s main language.
A compulsory second language, namely one of the two “communicative languages” through which the central government of Delhi communicates with the country, namely Hindi or English. This language is incorporated somewhere between the first and fifth school year. Each state decides for itself when.
A compulsory third language later. Here the choice is wide and mostly depends on the availability of teachers. It can either be the “communicative language” not chosen, or the language of the neighbouring state, or Arabic or Parsi or a European language, or even Sanskrit, still spoken in Hindu temples, etc.
A huge state, like the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, has Tamil and English as official languages and many schools learn Kanada, the language of the neighbouring state of Kanataka (in which Bangalore is set) as a third language.
Malayalam is the language of the southwestern state of Kerela. Here the official languages are Malayalam and English and one of several others available in the state as a third language.
Hindi is the mother tongue of Delhi and region but English joins Hindi as the official languages of Haryana, the state in which Delhi is located.
Note that India’s economic growth projection for this year is 6.5% vs 1% for SA, just in case you thought mother tongue education does not contribute to the economy.
Maphula Olivier, Pretoria
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