EENET asia Newsletters : Fourth issue June 2007 Contents

Moving Towards Mother Language Education for Indigenous Children in Bangladesh

21. Februari 2007

In Khagrachari Hill District of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in south-eastern Bangladesh, around half the population belong to various ethnic indigenous minority communities, while the rest are Bengali. Indigenous children can be turned away from school because they do not speak Bangla, which is used as the language of instruction.

At school, being surrounded by an unfamiliar language without help to learn it means that children do not pick up the national language, and find learning anything very difficult. Many indigenous children quickly lose interest in school and leave. As a result, dropout rates in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are as high as 60 percent.

Evidence from all over the world shows that it is vital to begin education in the language children know best – their mother tongue. Save the Children is promoting multilingual (also known as mother-tongue bilingual) education in several Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, Mongolia and Myanmar.

This approach means that children first develop a strong foundation in their mother tongue, and then move on to learn the national language while continuing to learn other subjects in their own language. This allows children to progress well through school, keep their own language and identity alive, and gain access to the language of business and government.

Where indigenous languages are not written down, bringing them into schools often means producing new alphabets. On International Mother Language Day (21 February 2007), alphabet charts for three major language communities were launched at a workshop focusing on “Mother Language First” which was jointly organized by the Khagrachari Hill District Council, Save the Children, and local NGO Zabarang Kalyan Samity.

The workshop and launch was part of an awareness raising programme in support of education in children’s mother tongue. Zabarang Kalyan Samity, with the support of Save the Children, has opened 60 pre-primary centres in partnership with local communities in remote areas of Khagrachari district. These centres use the children’s mother tongue as the language of instruction, giving indigenous children strong foundations for learning and development.

Also launched during the workshop was a book explaining how multilingual education works in practice, jointly published by the Khagrachari Hill District Council, Save the Children, and Zabarang Kalyan Samity. The book is in Bangla and English, and is available from h.pinnock@savethechildren.org.uk

International Mother Language Day is celebrated widely in Bangladesh and known as the Language Movement Day since it commemorates the 1952 protest to protect Bangla as the state language. In 1999, UNESCO recognized the Language Movement Day of Bangladesh and declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day. Today, some 188 countries observe this day.

For further information please contact Mr. Terry Durrnian, Head of Education, Save the Children Bangladesh. Email: terry@savethechildren-bd.org or postal address:
Save the Children
House 9, Road 16, Gulshan 1
Dhaka 1212 - Bangladesh

EENET asia Newsletters : Fourth issue June 2007 Contents