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 UPDATE: February 2008

I returned to India in mid January - warm - like a lovely English summer.  It took three weeks to get a new computer (the last one having crashed and would cost half a new one to put it right and then with no guarantee of success!); to get a phone line and to get connected to the internet.  A frustrating time, but it gave me time with Helen, who has come out for 6 months to work with Drs Sujai and Lavanya at the Nireekshana ACET (HIV/AIDS clinic) in Hyderabad.

The computer arrived two days before I went to Delhi for the MLE Conference which I had been working on with Professor Ajit Mohanty, UNICEF (funders) and others over the last year.

There were more than 130 participants from all over the world with a tremendous amount of experience many of them from within their own indigenous communities.  Representatives from the Finnish funded Nepal programme and from the CHT in Bangladesh were also there.  What was exciting to see was the increasing commitment of India through the Director of the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT).  For more than fourty years, some of India's eminent linguists have been calling for mother tongue education and this idea is now, at last, becoming a central dialogue in educational debate.

Following this a group of us fly to Orissa where another 3 day conference focused on the Orissa programme.  Again it was an excellent time ending with full commitment to the MLE programme by the government and UNICEF. 

I am so grateful to all the people who have been working on these programmes to enable tribal children in particular to develop their mother tongue as well as learn other languages. It has been a huge struggle to get it this far, but there have been so many committed people on the way who have enabled this to happen. 

 

 

December 2007

 

It's the end of the year once again and time to reflect on all that has happened... I am listening to Christmas carols in the warmth of the Hyderabad sun, soon to return to the UK for a few weeks break....

 

It's been a very busy year with a lot of travelling to the UK, America, Bangladesh, Thailand and Nepal as well as India, all in the cause of developing more positive education programmes for the children of ethnic minority groups. 

 

These children generally only have access to schools where the language of instruction is foreign to them; many do not want to go and of those who do, many drop out; their experience in the classroom is often negative and makes them feel like failures.  Even when they manage to survive such a system, the achievement levels of most are not sufficient to succeed in the mainstream.  Of the few who do, the process of alienation occurs - they do not fit back into their own culture and community.  Having spent a few days recently in the tribal area visiting some of the schools where the new programmes have been implemented, it is so good to see that the children are happy, they are learning to read and write in their own mother tongue and the language, culture and values of the community are not being ignored or destroyed.  If children are well grounded in their own language and culture, they become stronger in their own identity, their self esteem and worth is increased and learning becomes easier.

 

 

Koya children reading a story in their own language.

This multilingual education programme is now in three states and a fourth just beginning.  A fifth state was working on it, but due to some political difficulties, it has stopped for the time being, but we hope that next year as more people are in place to give support, it will begin again.  In Andhra Pradesh, 4th grade materials are being developed... the only problem here is that there is too much input from non tribal communities and not sufficient local knowledge is incorporated into the textbooks.  The first and second grades are working reasonably well in some schools, but as with any new programme and in a country as big as India (AP alone has 75 million people!) there will be teething problems.  For example, all the books were sent to the wrong tribal area - 300 miles from where they should have been, so many schools were operating without any mother tongue teaching materials; a difficult thing for teachers, especially ones from the tribal communities who are newly appointed teachers. 

Similar difficulties are being experienced in Orissa where some local officials are not fully aware of the issues and needs and there are delays in printing ..., but a programme which requires so much input at the beginning and a considerable amount of change in teaching methods and curriculum should not be judged for its success or failure for several years.

What is positive is that in all the schools where this programme is being implemented the dropout rates have been drastically reduced, parents and the community are much more involved in their children's education, the teachers are finding teaching fun, and the children are happy and learning!

A Gondi teacher writing first grade material

Besides India, Bangladesh is beginning a mother tongue first MLE (Multilingual Education) programme in the Chittagong Hills and Nepal is doing some pilot work under the Finnish Goverment... I was there at a reporting session of that programme and took part in a national symposium.

I was also in Thailand twice - once for a training programme with 10 participants from India funded by UNICEF, and once for the Viva Network Asia Area Cutting Edge Conference.

I was also in the USA twice this year - the first time for the Comparative Education Conference in Baltimore, where at practically every session I attended the issue of the use of the mother tongue was mentioned.  I also visited Washington and New York with SIL... and again in May for the Indigenous People's Permanent Forum to the UN where I hosted a session on education, organised by SIL.  At that time we also has - again with SIL - the first meeting of the MLE interest group in Washington.  One has also been started in London with Save the Children hosting it.  The next meeting will be while I am at home on 20th December... if anyone is interested in coming let me know.  This is mainly to raise awareness among the international NGOs, governments and donors and to support the growing international recognition of the need - apparently 400,000,000 non literates in the world do not have access to literacy or education in their own language - that is about half of those who cannot read and write (UNESCO figures).

There has been so much more than I have stated here - for example, the last month looked like this:

Three days in Orissa with the government MLE programme; return to Hyderabad to meet with Paul Dennison from Hayling Island; 2 days at an AP workshop; a visit to the tribal area for 3 days (very full and very exciting in terms of links with the government tribal education [programmes), off to Delhi for a UNESCO conference on Literacy  and meetings with various people for the promotion of MLE; back to a remote tribal area in Orissa for a board meeting of a medical and development NGO (one which gives great support to the Orissa government MLE programme - 2 flights and a 5 hour car journey into a beautiful mountain area - picking up 5kgs of organic coffee on my return); back to Hyderabad for one night and early the next morning off to Delhi again for one day for a meeting at UNICEF for the MLE Consultation planned for February 2008. I got back to Hyderabad by midnight.  All of this involves a lot of travelling - India is a huge country, Andhra Pradesh alone is bigger than the UK... and all the tribal areas are in remote places.  However, I feel I am greatly privileged to be involved with people and places that many Indians themselves do not know exist; I work with some wonderful people both tribal and others who are committed to improving the lives of marginalised minority groups.

Steve and Vicky Simpson from Wycliffe Canada, have been equally busy working on the MLE programme for more than two years; but sadly they are leaving next week to be with their growing family - grandparents!  They will be greatly missed, not only by me, but by the tribal teachers in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.  We are hoping that Steve, at least, will visit a couple of times during 2008...

I hope that what I have shared with you will encourage you, that your investment into this work has not and will not be in vain - difficult as it might be at times!

Many thanks once again for all your support and faithfulness.

Pam