BILINGUAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION: A PLEA
Why Bilingual Elementary Education?The child who enters school for formal education comes with competence in a variety of language. That variety has the same complexity and potential for expression and communication as any other variety of language. If that variety marks a social group, is not acceptable to the school and is not adequate to meet all the current needs, then child is to be based on already acquired competences, not on their rejection.
Educationists, Linguists and Psychologists are of the view that mother tongue is best suited as medium of early education as it aids concept formation and promotes creativity. In a multilingual country like India, where the notion of mother tongue is mixed up with region, religion, ethnicity, etc., and where children are equally at home with two or more languages/dialects, it is more appropriate to use the term 'the early language experience of the child' in the context of elementary education than merely use the term 'mother tongue'. In this context, however, it is the bilinguality or trilinguality at the home surrounding that is to be taken into consideration and not the adult bilinguality of the larger community.
In India, the scheduled languages are spoken by 10 to 80 millions of people. Each of the scheduled languages has about 10 to 97 recognizable dialects. The number of mother tongues in States varies between 58 (Orissa) and 454 (Maharashtra), and in Union Territories beween 14 (Laccadive, Minicoy and Aminidivi islands) and 210 (Himachal Pradesh). Out of the 1,652 mother tongues approximately 400 are tribal mother tongues, most of which are unwritten. Among these 21 languages are spoken by 1,00,000 and above, 4 languages spoken by 50,000 to 99,999; 5 languages by 40,000 to 49,999; 5 languages by 30,000 to 39,999, 6 languages by 20,000 to 29,999; 12 languages by 10,000 to 19,999, and 15 languages by 5,000 to 9,999 to the population (source: 1961 Census). Higher education is available in the medium of English and through the scheduled languages. Therefore, in designing elementary education all these factors have to be taken into account; and the language or dialect of early childhood experience of the learners would have to be determined for the purpose of elementary education.
Interaction central to learning-centred education
Indian education is essentially teaching Centred. The teacher consider the child's mind to be an empty container to be filled with his wisdom and with the wisdom contained in the textbook. This explains the lecture technique of teaching at all stages and the textbook being the master of class room. This also explains the teacher's insensitivity to the child's early experience with language. This lack of interaction inhibits learning, results in large scale failure and low achievement.
Numerical superiority and Imposed minority status
The number of speakers of a language seems to have nothing to do with the phenomenon of their being branded as linguistic minority. Even if 40 million people speak Tamil in Tamilnadu, the Tamil children in other parts of the country confront the above situation. Even within Tamilnadu a Brahmin, a Padayacci or a child from North Arcot meets with the same fate, not to speak of other language settlers. This is one kind of situation. A different kind of situation prevails in Tribal language areas, where even if 90 or even 100 per cent of children belong to a tribal community, the education policy imposes minority status on them. These children are confronted with an educational scene, wherein the content, method and medium, all are alien and consequently there is little interaction between the teacher and the taught.
Language as cause vs. Language as excuse for discrimination against the socially deprived
Language is both the cause and symptom of an inefficient education system. In this sense language is only an indirect cause of lower opportunity, low social status and therefore, discrimination. But is must be understood that a poor, a scheduled caste, a person from a specific area or social group is hated and discriminated against for a host of socio-economic reasons. In such cases language difference is used as an excuse. Even if the language barrier was removed, the persons would still be discriminated against. Where language difference is used as an excuse for discrimination, societal planning must get priority. But when language difference is the cause of educational discrimination, educational planning must get priority. Both, however, require an understanding of the societal problems involved.
Bilingualism models and muddles
Scholars have talked about Assimilation and Pluralistic models of bilingual schooling. The underlying assumption that bilingual schooling in itself fosters either maintenance or loss of language is erroneous. There are a large number of socio-economic reasons which are responsible for both. In India teaching of standard Hindi has not resulted in the loss of Bhojpuri, Maithili, Megahi, Braj and Rajasthani. Acceptance of Kannada by Tulu speakers and Marathi/Kannada by Konkani speakers as culture languages has not led to the assimilation of this language. Even Tanjore Marathi, Mysore Tamil, Kacchi, Sindhi and Urdu have not yet been assimilated in spite of teaching which either did not recognize them or gave only nodding recognition at one time or other.
Scholars have spoken of dual and Transfer models. In most such cases there is a great deal of confusion. Take for instance the Indian scene. Language medium schools, where invariably English is taught as a second/foreign language are claimed by some as bilingual schooling. Teaching two languages as subjects certainly does not make a school bilingual. The Central school system, where the 200 schools in which Social Sciences and Humanities are taught in Hindi and Physical Sciences are taught in English present the picture of one kind of bilingual schooling. This may be called the dual bilingual schooling in some sense. But it must be remembered that even in this system, for most students the mother tongue is neither Hindi nor English. The kind of bilingual school suggested by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, and proposed to be experimented among the Kuvi, Tripuri, Muria, Kolami, Warli and the Abujh Maria alone merits to be considered seriously under this rubric. This is in some sense may be called the transfer model. But the societal goal underlying the proposal does neither support shift, and assimilation no maintenance. On the positive side it aims at devising an educational strategy which shall bring the children from the linguistic tributaries to the mainstream of education at least cost to the system. This leaves the choice of studying the language as a subject at large stage open, and therefore, is not transfer in the sense of assimilation. The suggested scheme is to start teaching reading and writing of the mother tongue (using the script of the mainstream language is the mother tongue is unrecorded or inadequately recorded) while introducing the child to the spoken mainstream language. In the second phase reading and writing of the mainstream language is to be taught along with the mother tongue. In the third phase the emphasis on the mainstream language needs to be more and there will be the reverse of the relation between the mother tongue and the mainstream language in the first phase. Thus at the end of the elementary education the child would be ready to take full advantage of the division is 4+3+3 or 5+2+3 the scheme can be adjusted according to local needs.
Here, one should bear in mind the difference between the Indian and the Western situation. In the West, the problem of education is that of the immigrant minority in the context of a dominant monolingual majority with an accepted standard. In the multilingual Indian scene where a child is called upon to learn at least three languages to cater to enlarging concentric circles of communication, the problem is one of planned bilingualism at successive stage to ensure balanced multilingualism. Viewed in this perspective, the bilingual elementary education proposed by the Central Institute of Indian Languages in neutral between maintenance and loss of the mother tongue. It may result in either, but will promote neither. It is the only viable educational strategy that can meet the demands of competing languages and dialects, avoid stagnation and wastage at the elementary stage and lay the foundation for a good continuing education.