India
Summary
There is a wide variety of statements on the number of languages spoken in India. The 1961 census lists 1,652 languages, while the 1991 census lists only 114. The Ethnologue lists about 452. Hindi and English are the national or official languages. There are 22 official ‘scheduled’ languages, namely: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. Education normally takes place in the state languages while more and more schools switch to English. In some exceptional cases a local language is used as a medium of instruction. It is considered prestigious to have English as the medium of instruction. Political discussions are therefore focused on the choice between major Indian languages and English rather than on use of the mother tongue. MLE Mapping exercise identified nine (9) projects using twenty-three (23) non-dominant languages (NDLs) in classrooms. These projects provide multilingual education in both formal and non-formal systems of education for pre-primary and primary children. It is likely that this information does not fully reflect the use of NDLs in India.
| Name of Organization/ Institution | Level of Schooling | Formal or Non-formal | Public or Private | Which Languages | Number of Children reached by level of schooling | Location | Use of language in classroom (see explanations below) | Materials in classroom | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEGAP - initiator / lead actor / funder and implementer | PP & PR | NFE | PRI (parents pay normal fee) | Toto (txo), Nepali(npi), Bengali (ben), English (eng) | PR F:20 + M: 28 = 48 | Aklipudaur, West Bengal | 1,6 | In development | |
| Adivasi Sahiyta Sabha Assam | PP | NFE | PRI | Sadri (sck) | 200 | Lakhimpur and Sonitpur District, Assam | 1 | L1 pre reading, L1 Primer, L2 Primer, 70 L1 textbooks, L1 Alphabet book, 35 L1 Mathematics books, L2 TPR guide | |
| Amri Karbi Literature Society | PP | NFE | PRI | Amri Karbi (ajz) | 100 | Kamrup District Assam | 2 | L1 Alphabet Book, L1 Text books, L1 Pre-reading, L1 Primer, L1 Mathematics | |
| Rabha Literacy Mission Assam | PP | NFE | PRI | Rabha (rah) | 200 | Goalpara District, Assam and East Garo Hills Meghalaya | 2 | L1 Textbooks, L1 Pre-reading, L1 Primer | |
| Nijwm Community Development Society | PR | FE | PRI | Bodo (brx) | 400 | Kokrajhar District, Udalguri District and Kamrup District Assam | 2 | L1 Textbooks, L1 Alphabet Book, L1 Government textbooks | |
| Singpho Multilingual Education Committee | PP | NFE | PRI | Singpho (sgp) | 50 | Tinsukia District Assam | 2 | L1 Textbooks, L1 Pre-reading, L1 Primer | |
| Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SAA) | Telangana | PR (Grade 1-5) | FE | PUB | Lamgadi (lmn) | F: 3610 + M: 3743 = 7353 | Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad | L2 (Telugu) is introduced gradually from grade 2, orally first then written. | Reading material prepared for students includes: Textbooks in tribal languages (Telugu script) for Math and EVS for classes 1,2,3 and 4, alphabet books and storybooks have been prepared for students. As a part of 'teacher support initiative' - Big book and small books, dictionaries in all eight tribal languages, glossaries, teacher handbooks, MLE manuals, training modules; and Teaching learning materials (TLM) like worksheets, flash cards, educational games, word banks and extended curriculum construction through themes / theme webs have also been developed. |
| Gondi (gon) | F: 1665 + M: 1503 = 3168 | ||||||||
| Kolami, North-western (nit) | 28,172 | ||||||||
| Koya (kff) | 9,289 | ||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | Oriya, Adivasi (ort) | 7,375 | Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari | ||||||
| Konda (kfc) | 3,098 | ||||||||
| Kuvi (kxv) | 6,855 | ||||||||
| Koya (kff) | F: 1,623 + M: 1,376 = 2,999 | ||||||||
| Savara (svr) | F: 1,538 + M: 1,543 = 3081 | ||||||||
| The Good Samaritan | PR | FE | PRI | Koya (kff) or Harbi (hlb), Hindi (hin), English (eng) | F: 99 + M: 60 = 159 | Vil. Bhelwabhata, Taluk: Jagdalpur Dist. Bastar State: Chhattisgarh | LKG, UKG: 2
Classes 1,2,3: 1 (L1 is taught as subject) Classes 4,5: 3 (L2&L3;) (L1 is taught as subject) L1 as subject has a textbook for language learning. Additionally a separate book for a course using an L1 tect which covers the same concepts being presented in English, provides a strong support for students trying to understand concepts presented in L2) |
LKG: oral
UKG: oral&written;(MT) Class1-3: L1 text, L2 text&subjects; Class4: L1 text, L2 text&subjects;, L3 text Class5: as above Concept support material in L1 contains some lessons from all subjects. |
|
| Halbi (hlb), Hindi (hin), English (eng) | PR: F: 43 + M: 26 =69 | ||||||||
| Halbi (hlb), Hindi (hin), English (eng) | PR: F: 52 + M: 48 = 100 | ||||||||
Explanations
Name of organisation / institution:
Give the name of the organisation(s) (NGO, local association, etc) or institution (church, pagoda, temple, university etc.) which is initiating and supporting the action. This can include government agencies and institutions. Please specify type of involvement, e.g. initiator, lead actor, funder and implementer.
Level of schooling:
Identify whether action is at the pre-primary level (PP) or at the primary /elementary level (PR). The mapping is focusing only on these two levels of education.
Formal or Non-formal:
Identify whether action is:
1. in the formal (FE) or non-formal (NFE); and
2. in the government education system (Govt) or outside the government system by non-state providers (NSP).
Public or private:
Identify whether the action is happening in the public education (PUB) system or private (PRI). If this does not apply to your country, write n/a.
Which language:
Give the name of the local or minority language(s) which the action includes. If possible, see your country’s section on the Ethnologue.com (http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp?place=Asia) and find the relevant 3-letter ISO language code for these languages.
Number of children:
Give the number of children reached by school level (pre-primary and primary/elementary). Please disaggregate by gender (i.e. M: and F:),
Location of action:
Give sub-national location of action(s) either province or district
Use of language in classroom:
Identify how language is used in the classroom by using the descriptors below. Choose the most appropriate one. You can choose more than one.
1. Language of instruction (LOI) is the learners’ mother tongue (MT or L1) and their second language (L2) .
2. Language of instruction is the mother tongue only.
3. The second language is officially the language of instruction.
4. Language of instruction is the second language with MT as subject.
5. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – officially.
6. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – unofficially.
7. Second language (L2) is taught as second language.
Materials in classroom:
Are there teaching and learning materials in MT in classroom? Yes or no. If yes, estimate the number of titles in MT.