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.