Although India is close to achieving universal enrolment in Class one, 28.86 per cent of children continue to drop out of school before reaching Class five due to social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and other factors. Despite the constitutional recognition of multilingualism of Indian society, the school education projects built itself on the principles of a mono or bi-lingual nation state privileging the languages of the majority. As a result, children of minority languages tend to be disadvantaged in the mainstream education system.
National Conference on MLE at JNU Convention Center, New Delhi will initiate a national discussion on provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 informing the entire school education practice of India, which should have a multilingual pedagogy that builds on the home languages of the children.
This conference will create a layered discussion on each of these issues, reflect critically on the MLE programmes and practices in Indian school and develop an agenda for implementing MLE in all schools in future.
The recently approved National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy 2013 clearly states as a non-negotiable that the curriculum at all ECCE centers should be transacted in children’s mother tongue/ local vernacular. This is applicable to all ECCE centers, whether managed by the government, private organizations or by NGOs.
The conference will bring together school education and ECCE experts, policy makers and MLE partners to enhance critical understanding of the role of children’s languages in making school education equally accessible to ALL children in India, address the issue of push out among disadvantaged and minority groups and develop a respect for diversity among children and create a fearless and democratic classroom environment.
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