India
Summary
There is a wide variety of statements on the number of languages spoken in India. The 1961 census lists 1,652 languages, while the 1991 census lists only 114. The Ethnologue lists about 452. Hindi and English are the national or official languages. There are 22 official ‘scheduled’ languages, namely: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. Education normally takes place in the state languages while more and more schools switch to English. In some exceptional cases a local language is used as a medium of instruction. It is considered prestigious to have English as the medium of instruction. Political discussions are therefore focused on the choice between major Indian languages and English rather than on use of the mother tongue. MLE Mapping exercise identified nine (9) projects using twenty-three (23) non-dominant languages (NDLs) in classrooms. These projects provide multilingual education in both formal and non-formal systems of education for pre-primary and primary children. It is likely that this information does not fully reflect the use of NDLs in India.
| Name of Organization/ Institution | Level of Schooling | Formal or Non-formal | Public or Private | Which Languages | Number of Children reached by level of schooling | Location | Use of language in classroom (chooese 1-7, see below) | Materials in classroom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Andhra Pradesh(SSA/RGM) | PR (Grade 1 -5) | FE (Govt) | PUB | Adivasi Oriya (ort), Lambadi (lmn), Gondi (gon), Northwestern Kolami (kfb), Konda-Dora (kfc), Koya (kff), Kuvi (kxv), Sora (srb) | 220 - pilot schools; 2500 - current number of MLE schools | Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vishakhapatnam, Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad, Kurnool and Nellore | L2 (Telugu) is introduced gradually from grade 2, orally first then written. | Reading material prepared for students includes: Textbooks in tribal languages (Telugu script) for Math and EVS for classes I,II, III and IV, alphabet books and storybooks have been prepared for the students. As a part of ‘teacher support initiative’- Big book and small books, dictionaries in all eight tribal languages, glossaries, teacher handbooks, MLE manuals, training modules; and Teaching learning materials (TLM) like- worksheets, flash cards, educational games, word banks and extended curriculum construction through themes / theme webs have also been developed |
| Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) | PR | FE (Govt) | PUB | Sora (srb), Juang (jun), Munda (unx), Santali (sat), Bondo (bfw), Koya (kff), Kishan, Oram, Kuvi (kxv), Kui (kxu) | 450 Schools | ►Saora 30 schools (20 gajapati+10 Gunupur) ► Munda 20 schools(10Sundargarh+10 Mayurbhanj) ► Santal 20 schools (Mayurbhanj) ► Koya 20 schools (Malkangiri) ► Bonda 5 schools (Khairput 5 schools in Malkangiri) ► Juang 10 schoolsBanslap andHCPur in Keonjhar) ► Oroam 20 schools(Sundargarh) ► Kishan 20 schools (Sambalpur) ► Kui 20 schools (Kondhmal) ► Kuvi 20 schools (Rayagada) | i. Alphabet charts and books ii. Number charts and books iii. Theme based Big and small books iv. Textbooks for class I to class III in tribal languages v. Picture Dictionaries from Mother tongue to Oriya (for both students and teachers) vi. Grammar books and dictionaries have also been developed by Tribal Welfare Department vii. Teacher training manuals | |
| Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) | FE (Govt) | PUB | Koya (kff), Bhatri (bgw), Halbi (hlb) | |||||
| Asha Kiran Society | PR | NFE/ NGO | Desiya (dso), Bodo Gadaba (gbj), Pottangi Ollar Gadaba (gdb), Bondo (bfw), Oriya (ori), English (eng) | Most Panchayats of Lamptaput block in Koraput Koraput in Orissa | ||||
| Adivasi Sahitya Sabha | PP | NFE/ NGO | Sadri (sck) | at least 40 students in the first year | Sbhutia Ali Area under Dhekiajuli Sub-division, Sonitpur District | |||
| ULLASH | PP | NFE/ NGO | Cuttack, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Korapput, Rayagada, and Sundargarh | |||||
| The Good Samaritan | PR | NGO | Koya (kff), Halbi (hlb) | 3 primary schools | Bastar district in Chhattisgarh | The transitioning is into English and at a later stage Hindi. Throughout the school a simplified Devanagari script is used called Barati | ||
| Adharshila Learning Centre | PR | NGO | Bhili (bhb) | F: 32 & M: 108 = 140 | Saked Village, Sendhwa Tahsil, Badwani (Dt), MP | They teach in Bhili and then transition gradually into Hindi | ||
| NLCI | PR | NGO | Bhili (bhb) | MP |
Explanations
Name of organisation / institution:
Give the name of the organisation(s) (NGO, local association, etc) or institution (church, pagoda, temple, university etc.) which is initiating and supporting the action. This can include government agencies and institutions. Please specify type of involvement, e.g. initiator, lead actor, funder and implementer.
Level of schooling:
Identify whether action is at the pre-primary level (PP) or at the primary /elementary level (PR). The mapping is focusing only on these two levels of education.
Formal or Non-formal:
Identify whether action is:
1. in the formal (FE) or non-formal (NFE); and
2. in the government education system (Govt) or outside the government system by non-state providers (NSP).
Public or private:
Identify whether the action is happening in the public education (PUB) system or private (PRI). If this does not apply to your country, write n/a.
Which language:
Give the name of the local or minority language(s) which the action includes. If possible, see your country’s section on the Ethnologue.com (http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp?place=Asia) and find the relevant 3-letter ISO language code for these languages.
Number of children:
Give the number of children reached by school level (pre-primary and primary/elementary). Please disaggregate by gender (i.e. M: and F:),
Location of action:
Give sub-national location of action(s) either province or district
Use of language in classroom:
Identify how language is used in the classroom by using the descriptors below. Choose the most appropriate one. You can choose more than one.
1. Language of instruction (LOI) is the learners’ mother tongue (MT or L1) and their second language (L2) .
2. Language of instruction is the mother tongue only.
3. The second language is officially the language of instruction.
4. Language of instruction is the second language with MT as subject.
5. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – officially.
6. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – unofficially.
7. Second language (L2) is taught as second language.
Materials in classroom:
Are there teaching and learning materials in MT in classroom? Yes or no. If yes, estimate the number of titles in MT.