Bhubaneswar:
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2009 not only guarantees education for all but also necessitates quality education for all, which will further mean the consideration of the quality education for cultural and linguistic minorities.
States like odisha which is the home for 62 categories of Scheduled Tribes, out of which 13 are primitive groups should immediately opt for imparting elementary education in respective tribal languages, otherwise in absence of the multilingual education system, the very basic objective of the Right to Education act will be defeated for the tribal children. Education activists from across the state today opined this in a state level consultation on Language, Tribal Education and Right to Education today held at Hotel Suryansh here in Bhubaneswar jointly organized by Save the Children and Sikshasandhan.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sanjeev Rai, National Manager, Education from Save the Children said ‘The ST community of Odisha has 26 mother tongues and most of the tribal children especially coming from tribal rich concentration belts have inadequate exposure to the dominant Odia language of the state. A serious attempt should be initiated to explore the existing gaps to address the problems faced by the linguistic minority children, concerted advocacy efforts should be made by civil society groups, education activists and the government for the necessity of having a state level multilingual education policy’.
Expressing his concern noted educationist Dr. D. P. Patnaik mentioned that ‘Instrumental mechanisms from global level to state level are already there to promote multilingual education at elementary level. Government has taken some initiatives in this regard meanwhile, but it needs to be expedited and institutionalized across the state as soon as possible. This would minimize the high dropout rate among the tribal children and language should not be a barrier for the tribal children to join the school to fulfil the basic essence of the Right to Education Act’. Adding to the concern raised by Mr. patnaik, Prof. Ajit Mohanty reiterated that all the major commission including the Kothari commission has specifically advocated for mother tongue as the medium of instruction for a minimum of five to eight years in the primary stage, as the level of competency in mother tongue decide the prospect of efficiency in other languages including English. Dr. Mohit Mohanty expressing similar sentiments added that the mushrooming of English-medium education is going to kill all creativity and innovation as they lack a solid foundation of understanding, which is possible through mother- tongue only. Moreover the experts tried to clarify a popular misconception as to the learning of mother-tongue as a impediment to learning other languages including English. Rather all of them advocated that MLE(multi lingual Education) is all about facilitating learning by mother tongue as window to learn many other languages, which helps not only in better learning achievements but also open many career opportunities.
Among others, experts from Action Aid, Bernerd Van Leer Foundation, Care India, CYSD, Sikshasandhan, Agragamee, language teachers, tribal leaders, education activists from districts along with senior officials from OPEPA, Government of Odisha were present in the Consultation and have shared their concerns. Ms. Gazala Sahin from Save the Children and Mr. Anil Pradhan from Sikshasandhan jointly anchored the program representing both Save the Children and Sikshasandhan, the joint-organizer of the programme.
source : http://www.orissadiary.com/ Odisha Diary / Home> Odisha Fast News / Report by Odisha Diary Bureau / Friday – August 23rd, 2013