‘Fifty percent of the world’s out-of-school children live Non-specialists most commonly use ‘mother in communities where the language of schooling is tongue education’ to mean education in a language rarely, if ever, used at home.’ (World Bank, In Their that children speak at home, with the implication Own Language, Education for All, 2005) that education is solely in that language, although this is rarely if ever the case. This is particularly ecisions about the language medium unfortunate because policy makers often mistakenly used in schools affect most minorities believe that education in a home language will mean D and almost all indigenous peoples. It is that children will never really master a national these groups who most commonly speak a language or majority language. But in fact, the opposite is other than the prevailing national or majority one. true (see below.) What we are really talking about As such, minority and indigenous children are most is multilingual education, whereby children start often affected by the absence of education in their school speaking the language that they speak at ‘home’ language, and suffer the most severe conse- home, and other languages are gradually introduced quences; for generations, they are relegated to life over time. For the rest of this chapter I will refer on the margins. Very high numbers of children are to Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education affected. For example, according to the Institute (MTME). for Development Studies in the UK, approximately ‘1.38 billion people speak local languages – languag- Education in MTME is better es that are less well-known, without written forms for children and not used in formal education. This includes an World Bank research from Mali in 2005 showed A positively estimated 221 million school-aged children.’ that, ‘End-of-primary pass rates between 1994 and It seems obvious to say that children learn better 2000 for children who transitioned gradually from when they understand and speak the language of a local language to French were, on average, 32 per plurilingual the classroom. But currently many children around cent higher than for children in French-only pro- the world are taught at school in a language that grammes.’ Policy makers’ most common reaction they do not understand either well or at all. This to a population of children who speak a different has a direct impact, resulting in lower educational language at home (and who are often not doing well world: promoting achievement, higher drop-out rates, loss of heritage in school as a result) is to put in place special pro- languages and lower self-esteem for these children. grammes teaching the national or school language The challenges facing mother tongue education for these children. But research over two decades mother tongue provision include the concentration or disper- has demonstrated that, instead of supplementary sal of minority communities, and the effects of support in the national language, teaching such decentralization on educational decision making. children through their home language and gradu- education These will be discussed here, and the best ways of ally introducing other languages is more effective organizing mother tongue education sketched out, in terms of educational achievement for minority using examples and results from practice around language pupils. Importantly, it also showed that Claire Thomas the world. minority language children progress faster in both Finally, some of the reasons decision makers give their language and the majority language when they for resisting mother tongue education, despite its first receive education in their home language. proven effectiveness, will be examined. Therefore, While all children benefit from education in their the chapter will be most useful for advocacy by home language, UNESCO has found that girls ben- minority and indigenous activists, and those work- efit more. This may be for cultural reasons: girls, in ing to shape educational policies. general, are more restricted to the home. This limits their opportunities to be exposed to and learn other Terminology languages that may be spoken outside the home. In this chapter, a ‘mother tongue’ is a language that Minority girls may participate very little in class children learn from their parents (both mother and because they do not understand the classroom lan- father), siblings, wider family and community, when guage. Teachers may support and challenge boys in they are very young (this includes signed languages this situation because they have higher expectations of used primarily by deaf people and their families). them but may not do so with girls.

State of the World’s Minorities A positively 83 and Indigenous Peoples 2009 plurilingual world barrier. Unfortunately, students have struggled. Below: Girls from an indigenous community read to conclude that groups are less likely to mobilize Bilingual teach- Many gave up. outdoors at Ban Pho primary school in Lao Cai around topics like the language of schooling. But The Ministry of Education and Training Province, Vietnam. The UNICEF-supported school this is dangerously short-sighted. Examples show ing heads to (MOET) asked UNICEF and international con- provides education in a safe, child-friendly learning that the closure of minority language schools and sultants for help in developing a flexible bilin- environment and includes classes taught in the universities has been a contributing factor to raised gual programme specific to the Vietnam context. children’s indigenous language. Josh Estey/UNICEF. ethnic tensions and conflict. In Kosovo in the early the front of the Preparation spanned almost two years, including 1990s, the closure of many Albanian language pri- policy decisions on which languages to choose home … [helps] pupils feel secure about their identity. mary and secondary schools and the mass expulsion class in Vietnam for the pilot (H’mong, J’rai and Khmer were They will meet other children like themselves, make of Albanian language students from the university chosen), assessments to pick pilot sites and field friends within their community, engage in cultural certainly was one significant factor in increasing By Karen Emmons visits to suggested schools. activities and, most important of all, gain in self-esteem.’ tensions. This was echoed a decade later in Tetovo, In 2008 the first piloted bilingual kinder- Macedonia; this time, however, partly due to more In a typical Vietnam primary class with eth- garten classes opened their books and played MTME as a tool of conflict prevention effective international interventions, a compromise nic minority students, the Vietnamese teacher games in the three mother tongues. One child The link between assimilationist education policies over an Albanian-language university helped prevent strains to communicate through body language said, ‘I enjoy speaking H’mong with my teacher and low self-esteem, absenteeism and high drop-out widespread ethnic conflict. Other examples that or through classmates who may know both and friends and find it much more fun going rates of children from indigenous and linguistic demonstrate the links between assimilationist policy, the minority language and some Vietnamese. to school.’ Grade 1 classes follow in 2009. minority communities is now widely accepted. Such language provisions and potential conflict include Learning is a sporadic occurrence. Ultimately, 13 kindergarten and 13 grade 1 policies perpetuate a cycle of exclusion and margin- Botswana, China and Nicaragua, as documented in Vietnam’s Constitution and 1991 Universal classes (in three provinces) will be monitored alization that, in turn, can pave the way for mobi- recent MRG reports. Primary Education Law recognize that ethnic until 2014, with materials and teacher training lization of communities along ethnic lines when States that run well-planned and well-implement- minority children have a right to study in their developed up to grade 5. That research will con- tensions are high. ed MTME programmes will, in the long run, reduce mother tongue. With 54 ethnic groups in the tribute to new policies and practices (including Some policy makers may feel that both minority the risk of inter-ethnic conflict. Minority children country, that’s a lot of mother tongues. But a legal framework) to promote the use of ethnic languages and education are relatively soft topics – will do better, will be able to break out of cycles of somewhere along the way, using Vietnamese for minority languages as a means for improving compared, perhaps, to land rights, resource rights or poverty, and intercultural education will build links instruction took precedence as the way to help access, quality and equity of education and other reserved seats in Parliaments. This might lead them between communities. ethnic minority students overcome the language social services. p

MTME means lower drop-out rates, MTME means higher self-esteem improved attendance Educational development expert Carol Benson A telling insight from Bangladesh was offered by activist believes that systematic but frequently ignored dif- Mathura Bikash Tripura at the UN Forum. He said: ferences between the language and culture of the school and the learner’s community only succeed in ‘As a whole, net enrolment rate in Bangladesh has been teaching low self-esteem. She goes on to state: increased from 71.2 per cent in 1990 to 86.6 per cent in 2001, with gender parity. But in the Chittagong Hill ‘Bilingual education addresses self-esteem in at least Tracts, only 56.8 per cent of the indigenous children from two ways. First, children are allowed to express their 6–10 years old enrolled in schools, and 60 per cent of the full range of knowledge and experience in a language enrolled children drop out in early primary. This is double in which they are competent. Second, use of the mother the national drop-out rate; the children are turning away tongue in the official context of school demonstrates for not speaking Bangla and they are experiencing educa- that their language and culture is deemed worthy of tion in a totally unfamiliar language.’ (see Box, p. 154) high-status activities such as schooling.’

Conversely, in Guatemala, according to Save the The benefits of this to children and to parents who Children in 2008, with long-term bilingual and may not have had MTME or even mainstream intercultural education, grade repetition is about schooling cannot be underestimated. According to half that in traditional schools, while drop-out rates Our Languages, a languages project in the UK: are about 25 per cent lower. These are just two examples of many worldwide that confirm the ben- ‘Introducing pupils to their heritage language, or teach- efits of MTME to minority and indigenous pupils. ing them literacy in a language they already speak at

84 A positively State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities A positively 85 plurilingual world and Indigenous Peoples 2009 and Indigenous Peoples 2009 plurilingual world MTME gives life to languages that um of these languages and it takes place outside the documents. These teams are organized by are threatened main school day. In 2003, the National Agency for Success in three languages and regions of indigenous peoples Alexandra Vujic, in her statement to the UN Forum Education Statistics in Sweden reported on ‘Mother in three countries. on behalf of the Vojvodina Center for Human Rights, Tongue Studies’, whereby: countries tells p Thirty-three indigenous students from the stressed that for endangered languages, language as a University of Cuenca are studying for a medium of education (rather than as a subject taught ‘Students with a mother tongue other than Swedish bachelor’s degree as investigators and high alongside other subjects) is critically important: have the right to receive tuition in their native lan- its own story school teachers. guage as a school subject … [with] its own separate p Indigenous investigators have been chosen ‘Homogeneous minorities [i.e. geographically concen- syllabus … Just over half of all pupils who are entitled By Juan de Dios Simón by their own peoples to conduct applied trated] have more opportunities to preserve their lan- to receive mother tongue tuition do so.’ research in IBE in their own communities. guage and culture in education through the medium of p Five bilingual and teachers’ schools have mother tongue, while dispersed minorities, whose only It said: ‘Mother Tongue Studies courses are taught The EIBAMAZ project (Intercultural Bilingual received technical and financial support. opportunity is more often just to learn their language, in approximately 60 languages (e.g. Arabic to Education in the Amazon Region) works with Three public universities (Universidad are strongly faced with assimilation processes and loss of 21,073 pupils, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian to 14,829 17 indigenous groups in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nacional Mayor de San Simón in Bolivia, their language and culture.’ pupils, Finnish to 11,384 pupils and Albanian to Peru. It is run by UNICEF and is supported Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador, 7,704 pupils).’ This type of provision is very valu- by the government of Finland. In Bolivia the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Ahola Ejembi of the Civil Liberties Organization able to dispersed linguistic minorities and offers a groups are the Cavineño, Movida, Moseten, Marcos in Peru), have committed to in Nigeria, stated that the ‘Akweya language is thus partial solution, but it is not MTME. Tacana and Tsimane. In Ecuador the project including indigenous professional and threatened with extinction and we are of the opin- works in eight provinces of the department of traditional community leaders in the ion that if the language is taught in primary schools Devolution or centralization of decision Puyo, with nine indigenous peoples and nation- teaching and research institutes of the in the area this drift will be arrested’. making on education alities: Achuar, Ando, Cofan, Kichwa, Secoya, universities. A separate but related issue is the degree of devo- Shuar, Siona, Waorani and Zapara. In Peru it is Degrees of geographic concentration lution or centralization of power on educational working in the Ucayali region with three groups: An evaluation of the programme to date or dispersal decision making. Devolving power to regions or Ashaninka, Shipibo and Yine. The project found that: It is important to note that, rights to mother states can lead to a resurgence in MTME where started in 2005. tongue education for children notwithstanding, one language community is concentrated. For Early results include: p EIBAMAZ is innovative, well accepted by the number of speakers of a language and the geo- example, since 1999, when the Welsh Assembly was p 100 per cent of indigenous children study- actors and counterparts and its components graphical distribution of speakers do impact on the established, there has been a 46 per cent increase ing under the integrated unities of learning are dynamic. practicalities of organizing MTME, and both pol- in Welsh medium secondary school pupils. This (first four years) in the Amazonian area of p With UNICEF’s management, the icy makers and minorities and indigenous peoples is despite the fact that support and provision for Ecuador have their own books. project has had a broader impact and accept that these practical effects are important. speakers of minority languages in the UK (particu- p More than 4,000 boys and girls radius of activities than it would otherwise Most linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples larly migrant languages but also sign language and received their first bilingual materials in have done. around the world tend to live in areas where there other regional languages) is not at all adequate. Ucayali, Peru. p EIBAMAZ has generated a wide range of are high concentrations of people speaking one, However this is not always the case. According p Thousands of teachers in Bolivia have activities, and engaged with both teaching two or three languages. However internal migration to the Indian Constitution, states and local authori- guidelines on how to apply interculturality and education reform, despite a relatively to cities, internal displacement, and international ties in India must ‘provide adequate facilities for in classrooms and didactic skills for multi- small budget. migration and refugee movements are leading to a instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary grade teaching and multi-ethnic classrooms. p The cost-benefit ratio and the efficiency of situation where more and more linguistic minori- stage of education to children belonging to linguis- p 3,000 bilingual teachers have been use of financial resources are very positive. ties find themselves isolated from their traditional tic minority groups’. In Andra Pradesh education trained in diverse themes of Intercultural p There is a strong demand in the Amazon community area. Their languages are therefore more programmes in eight languages have been running and Bilingual Education (IBE) in three for an efficient, effective and pertinent vulnerable. In some cases, a particular school may since 2003. The state of Orissa began rolling out countries. intercultural bilingual education. have pupils speaking 20, 40 or even 60 different programmes in ten languages in 2007. Despite this, p 1,000 indigenous teachers have access to p Indigenous leaders are committed to languages, and teaching through the medium of according to experts in India: technology centres, using the internet and working for their own IBE based in their all of these languages would clearly be challeng- diverse books in the documentation centres. own culture. ing. Minorities and indigenous peoples who are ‘Most states decide their own medium or mediums of p Indigenous teams have been created to pro- p Parents see the school as an ally in their dispersed rather than living all together are much instruction (MOI) for primary schools … state policy duce materials, using local technology com- attempts to transmit to their children their less likely to benefit from MTME. Though some varies for lack of implementation guidelines. States bined with computer software to edit and cultural heritage. states do provide at least some educational support often designate the official state language (such as for highly dispersed minority languages (e.g. Sweden Tamil in Tamil Nadu) as MOI or even, increasingly, and Belgium), the teaching is not through the medi- English.’

86 A positively State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities A positively 87 plurilingual world and Indigenous Peoples 2009 and Indigenous Peoples 2009 plurilingual world How to organize MTME Why the gap between research findings could also be included’ and that policy should Successful MTME requires high-quality, well- and reality? ‘A person who take account of ‘Girls … who benefit most planned and well-implemented programmes. The After significant civil society lobbying at the deeply from the contributions’, including girls best initiatives include consultation with and partici- International Bureau of Education international does not know from ‘the remote rural communities’. pation of the community, and are sensitive to and conference in 2008, the world’s education ministers Jessica agreed that the IBE ‘has still a way to include the specific cultural knowledge and practices recommended that states should: ‘view linguistic go’, that it could be improved through better of children. MTME should go beyond merely and cultural diversity in the classroom as a valuable his history is textbooks and more learning materials. She also sustaining languages to significantly contribute to resource and promote the use of the mother tongue said that there are few options available within a child’s development, and education programmes in the early years of instruction’. The UN Forum doomed’ the bilingual educational system, and that is why need to be run in combination with policies that also made strong recommendations on MTME (see she had to do part of her studies in the Hispanic maximize the use of minority and indigenous lan- References, pp. 234–40). Graduates of Intercultural Bilingual system. guages in the economy and in the public sector. But despite these and other similar public state- Education speak out. By Anna Ramber summed up the importance of giv- However, because a majority of countries are ments, actual implementation of high-quality Lucia D’Emilio ing indigenous children the opportunity to gain running either no MTME or programmes that fall MTME around the world is rare. Unlike some access to IBE programmes when he contrasted significantly short of even the very minimal standards other aspects of education provision covered in this ‘study in one’s mother tongue’ – through which set out below, activists in such challenging situations book, the wealth of a state and the availability of The UNICEF-supported 8th Latin American it is possible to study in depth ‘important and will need to first concentrate on more limited and resources is rarely a determining factor in whether Congress of Intercultural Bilingual Education took significant aspects of our experiences, philoso- targeted goals. or not MTME is provided, or even of its quality. place in Argentina in 2008. Participants included phy and our life itself’ – with study in Spanish, Expert Kathleen Heugh has found that good Ideological considerations come into play too, with a panel of high school graduates from Intercultural because the texts that they were taught to read in practice is to have education using only one language varying practices across regions. Bilingual Education (IBE) programmes. Spanish were not ‘that enjoyable since we would as a medium (the language spoken at home) for at At the UN Forum, the French Minister of The group included: Ramber Molina, 23, understand little of the real meaning, the essence least six years. The most common failing of current Education stated, ‘French policy … does not a Quechua Bolivian; Moisés Rivero, 20, a ... it’s that that view did not match (adapt to) MTME programmes is that children stop using the prevent the teaching of languages and herit- Guaraní Bolivian; Daniel Paucar, 17, a Quechua our way of understanding life’. home language after only two or three years and age culture on an optional basis and outside the Peruvian; Dora Virginia Alonzo Quijivicx, 17, Ramber is about to complete his under- transition to a national language at this point. school day to those who desire it.’ But more pro- Maya Quiché from Guatemala; and Jessica graduate studies in law at Universidad Nacional MTME can be either additive or subtractive. gressive policies on diverse languages as education Peñafiel, 14, a Kiwcha Ecuadorian. Mayor de San Simón in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Subtractive MTME is where the home language is mediums exist in many of France’s neighbours Dora said IBE made a difference to her iden- and would like to become a lecturer in constitu- replaced by another language after the first years of including Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain tity as an indigenous woman. tional law. education. This is by far the most common form (in relation to the Basque region), the UK (in Moisés is studying to become a teacher at of MTME. But well-planned and well-implement- relation to Wales) and Switzerland. Some coun- ‘I believe that IBE has made new opportunities INSPOC, a model institute in teacher training ed additive MTME programmes, where languages tries in Latin America have made great progress available to us, one of the greatest signs being that for IBE, in Camiri, Bolivia. are added but none are dropped, are associated but Canada’s record remains patchy, with far we can demonstrate to the whole world that we with a very high degree of fluency and a wide and more effort being made and success resulting with indigenous women can indeed attain what we set for ‘I’ll be a teacher, not for advancement but as a deep vocabulary in several languages. It is helpful if French and English as minority languages in dif- ourselves. A clear example is that we have women vocation. I’d like to reach the sectors most in need mother tongues/minority languages are also used as ferent regions than with indigenous and migrant MPs. I feel very proud of having a representative within the community and the sectors that nobody a language medium for national examinations. minority languages. The USA retains bilingual who is a woman and a Maya at the Guatemalan knows about nor studies. I want to reach out to Children and parents should always be able education programmes but California, through a Congress, of having indigenous teachers who impart them, for them to be aware of the cultural values, to choose whether children attend MTME or measure known as Proposition 227, moved away to us our education, of our grandmothers who have the grandfathers’ knowledge, the values of our mainstream education in the majority language from bilingual programmes and back to giving much knowledge which compares with the people region, so that they remain in the books and will or schools that combine both. Under no circum- children with limited proficiency in English extra who know about anthropology, astrology and other never be rubbed out of the Guaraní culture. In my stances should bilingual or minority language support in that language. subjects, and then our grandfathers, who know what region slavery still exists – we help them to rise up schools be less well resourced than majority lan- Some states have far better special provision for a a Mayan ceremony is, living in harmony with our and eliminate slavery.’ guage ones. Certainly there should be no issue of few languages than for others (e.g. French in Canada, loved ones [and] our ancestors, [who] remember any required segregation of children by language, Saami in Sweden, Welsh in the UK). In some cases, them and want to shape our identity.’ Daniel, who is studying to become a social com- although MTME may in fact lead to some separate certain languages are protected by historical treaties municator and a community leader, said: ‘A per- classes in practice. For this reason, it is important (e.g. Greek in Turkey and Turkish in Greece). But She added: ‘It would be good if, when making son who does not know his history is doomed. I that minority languages are also taught as a subject this continues to leave those speaking other languages public policies regarding children, our opinions don’t want to be like this.’ p to all children in a country along with intercultural in these states disadvantaged and complaining about education. these disparities.

88 A positively State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities A positively 89 plurilingual world and Indigenous Peoples 2009 and Indigenous Peoples 2009 plurilingual world Reasons given for not providing MTME Right: Ryan Malibirr, an Aboriginal student Some states declare a national language as neces- at school in Ramingining, Northern Territory, sary for national unity. Article 21 of the Syrian Australia. Yolngu Matha, the local language, is taught Consitution states: ‘The education and cultural in language and culture classes. Polly Hemming. system aims to build an Arabic national socialistic generation’ (emphasis added). This excludes the should be made easier for local people to be trained Kurdish speaking community in Syria (around as teachers, as local teachers are much more likely 3 million people). Jian Badrachan, of the Kurd- to stay in remote areas (where minorities often live) ish Centre for Legal Studies and Consultancy than teachers from cities or other parts of the coun- explained that in Syria: try. The EIBAMAZ project in Latin America coor- dinated by UNICEF (see Box, p. 89) has worked in ‘It is forbidden to teach a lesson in the mother tongue this way, as has SIL in Papua New Guinea. As Carol of the Kurdish language. Teachers are forced to give Benson points out in ‘Girls, educational equity and lessons to pupils in Arabic which nobody understands, mother tongue education’, locally based mother thus reflecting a strategy of the government in excluding tongue teachers are more likely to have a closer rela- the Kurds from a prospective education.’ tionship with and the trust of parents. This can par- ticularly affect girls’ enrolment in school and reduce Syria has such a hardline stance on this issue that girls’ drop-out rates. Benson adds that a higher teaching Kurdish in private has even led to teach- proportion of locally based mother tongue teachers ers being arrested, as reported at the UN Durban are often female, providing positive role models for Review Conference in Geneva in April 2009 by the girl pupils. Human Rights Organization in Syria. Education departments often cite the additional Some governments claim that majority opin- investment and costs of MTME. It is true that ion forces them to follow assimilationist policies funding is often needed to develop materials, and and quote examples of MTME issues that have to invest initially in teacher training. However been put to the public vote (Proposition 227 in researchers and analysts, including at the World California is the best-known example). Botswana Bank, have shown that because of the reduced drop- Let there be no more children who describe their things outside, but learning through reading and writ- has brought bills to parliament on several occasions, out rate and repetition of years, even though the experience as one Punjabi speaker, who was sub- ing to be proud of our way of life. When he is big, he which would modify the policy that privileges the initial costs may be somewhat higher, MTME is still merged in an English-language medium education will not reject us. It is important to teach our children Setswana language and culture over Botswana’s 20 more cost effective in the long term. aged 7, did, saying: to read and write, but it is more important to teach or so other languages, but none has passed. them to be proud of themselves, and of us.’ p However, when the benefits are explained and Conclusion ‘Very difficult … I didn’t understand what people were a debate takes place in which nationalist or anti- It is not coincidental that children from linguistic saying around me so I thought that they were talking immigrant sentiments are not promoted, there is minority communities make up a large proportion about me and I was thinking “What are they plan- widespread public support for MTME. Initiatives of the children who are currently not in school. ning?” I didn’t understand a word … It was scary … I are going ahead with broad support in Ethiopia, Linguistic minorities and most indigenous peoples came home every day in tears.’ Papua New Guinea and Mozambique, which is cur- are often marginalized in political and economic rently rolling out a new programme of education in life. They are often either invisible or are just not Let there be more parents of children who can say, 16 languages (out of 43), with some early indica- a priority when policy decisions are taken. This is as UNESCO reported this Tok Ples speaking parent tions of success. the overwhelming, if short-sighted reason, why their in Papua New Guinea: needs are so often ignored. Practical arguments made against It is clear that education policies that deny ‘Now my child is in a Tok Ples school. He is not MTME education education rights for linguistic minorities must leaving his place. He is learning in school about his There is an acute shortage of trained teachers who be challenged. Education must be adapted to the customs, his way of life. Now he can write anything he speak or have training in mother tongue languages. languages that children speak rather than children wants to in Tok Ples. Not just the things he can see, According to the NGO Save the Children, ‘Because being changed to fit in with the education systems but things he thinks about, too. And he writes about speakers of local or minority languages often don’t in place. Provision needs to be tailored to take into his place. He writes about helping his mother carry do well in school due to an unfriendly language account different languages and different cultures. water, about digging kaukau, about going to the gar- of instruction, they don’t make it through higher More domestic and international litigation to call den. When he writes these things they become impor- education and thus cannot qualify as teachers.’ It states to account on these issues is sorely needed. tant to him. He is not only reading and writing about

90 A positively State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities A positively 91 plurilingual world and Indigenous Peoples 2009 and Indigenous Peoples 2009 plurilingual world