EXPERIENCES OF SCHOOLING OF SAORA CHILDREN STUDYING IN MLE AND ODIA-MEDIUM SCHOOLS

1. EXPERIENCES OF SCHOOLING OF SAORA CHILDREN STUDYING IN MLE AND ODIA-MEDIUM SCHOOLS BY SAKSHI MANOCHA, NMRC, JNU

2. INTRODUCTION MULTILINGUAL RUBRIC OF INDIA • 3372 MOTHER TONGUES (1576 listed, 1796 as ‘other’ languages) • 22+1 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES • 80% of the Indian languages (most of them being tribal) are excluded from the mainstream society.

3. Consequences of exclusion of Home language • Poor education performance • High rates of ‘Push-out’ • Capability deprivation and poverty • Loss of Diversity ( see Mohanty ,2008; ToveSkutnabbKangas 2000).

4. MLE PROGRAMME • MLE PROGRAMME: It is a mother tongue based Multilingual Education programme based on Jim Cummins BICS and CALP. • L1 BASED MLE PROGRAMME WAS INITIATED ON PILOT BASIS IN TWO STATES OF INDIA: ANDHRA PRADESH IN 2003 AND IN ODISHA IN 2006

5. HOME LANGUAGE OPEN THE DOORS FOR CHILD’S CULTURE TO BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CLASSROOM PRACTICES Example: USING LOCAL MEASURING SYSTEM TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT UNIVERSAL MEASURING SYSTEM. My favourite subject is maths because I like the way sir teaches addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with the help of our games and our songs.”- Student, MLE school.

6. Children elated to have their language, games and songs in school “I like language class, because, in this subject we read our stories and sing our songs. I enjoy them a lot.”-Student, MLE school

7. FEARLESS VOICES OF CHILDREN IN MLE SCHOOL Initially, I was afraid of coming to school but because our teacher is so warm and friendly and he teaches us in Saora, I felt much better and now I enjoy coming to school. I like to read, write and playing with my friends in school.” – Student, MLE school. • Children actively participate in classroom discourses. • Do not take knowledge as filtered by teachers and voice their opinions

8. Saora children Feeling alienated in odia-medium school “Our teacher doesn’t teach us in Saora and as we don’t know Oriya, I find it difficult to understand what all he teaches in class.”- Student, Odia Medium school.

9. Culture of silence in Odia-Medium schools • Children wanted to avoid teacher’s question and attention. • Children remained tight lipped in class room. • Took knowledge as filtered down by the teacher.

10. Articulation about one’s self and culture • Children in MLE schools could narrate their experiences, articulate their thoughts, spoke about their culture with pride. • Children in Odia Medium schools were hesitant to narrate their schooling experiences, were scared to talk about their culture and could not express their thoughts and feelings in Oriya. “No, I don’t know any poem or song not even in Saora. Our teacher doesn’t teach us any poem or song, so I don’t know.”-Student.

11. STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP • Engaging teaching-learning experiences of children in MLE schools and a bond that they shared with the teacher created a strong sense of identification with the school whereby students saw school not as threatening but rather their ‘own space’. • The estranged teaching-learning environment and poor teacher-student relationship made school an alien place for Saora children studying in Odia- medium schools.

12. CONCLUSION • Although this study was carried out in primary classes of MLE and odia-medium schools, the findings of this study can be extended to ECCE. • Use of Home language in Early childhood education can allow children to emotionally connect with teachers and identify and feel like a valued part of the school. Thus leading to healthy Social and emotional development.

13. Use of Home Languages allows teachers to establish a link between school and every day knowledge of the child thus enhancing their cognitive and meta-cognitive skills. (See, NMRC Longitudinal study for more details). • Implications for Language development.

14. THANK YOU