minorities and multilingualism in india 1
TRANSCRIPT
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Language in Education: Minorities and Multilingualism in IndiaAuthor(s): Kamal K. SridharReviewed work(s):Source: International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift frErziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 42, No. 4, The Education ofMinorities (1996), pp. 327-347Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3444906.
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LANGUAGE
IN
EDUCATION: MINORITIES AND
MULTILINGUALISMIN INDIA
KAMALK. SRIDHAR
Abstract
-
The
question
of
education n India cannot be
properly
discussed without
referring
o
its
socio-linguistic
context.
This
paper
provides
background
nformation
on the
linguistic
profile
of India.The
term minorities
n
the Indian ontext
s
defined,
and
the
protection
offered to
linguistic
minorities
in the Indian Constitution
is
examined.
A
discussion
of
languagepolicy
in Indianeducation ollows in which
the
recommendations f the differenteducation commissionsare analysed.The impor-
tant issues covered
include:
the
numberof
languages
that
are
taught,
the medium
of
instruction,
and the
educational
policies regardingspeakers
of
minority
languages.
The article
also
discusses different
anguage
movements
and their
impact
on
Indian
education.
Zusammenfassung
-
Die
Frage
der
Bildung
in
Indien
kann
ohne
einen
Bezug
zum
sozial-linguistischen
Kontext
nicht hinreichend diskutiert
werden.
Dieser
Artikel
liefert
Hintergrundinformationen
um
linguistischen
Profil Indiens.
Der
Begriff
Minderheiten
wird
im
Zusammenhang
mit Indien definiert und
der
den
Sprachminderheiten
n
der
indischen
Verfassung
zugestandene
Schutz
untersucht.
AnschlieBend
wird die
Sprachpolitik
m indischen
Bildungssystem
angesprochen
und
die
Empfehlungen
unterschiedlicher
Bildungskommissionen
werden
analysiert.
Die
wesentlichen
abgehandelten
Themen
beinhalten
folgende
Bereiche: die
Anzahl der
unterrichteten
prachen,
die
Unterrichtssprache
nd die
Bildungspolitik
hinsichtlich
der Sprachminderheiten.Der Artikel befal3t sich aul3erdemmit unterschiedlichen
Sprachbewegungen
nd ihrem
EinfluBauf die
indische
Bildung.
R6sum6
-
On
ne
peut
vraiment
d6battre
a
question
de l'Educationen
Inde sans
la
replacer
dans
son
contexts
socio-linguistique.
Cet
article foumit
une
information
de
base sur le
profil linguistique
de
l'Inde.
II
y
d6finit
e terme de minorit6sdans le
contexte de ce
pays
et
6tudie
la
protectionque
la
Constitution
ndienne assure
aux
minorites
linguistiques.
I1 s'ensuit
un
expose
de
la
politique linguistique
dans
I'enseignement
e ce
pays,
incluantune
analyse
desrecommandationses diff6rentes
commissions
pldagogiques.
Les
points
essentiels trait6s
portent
sur
le nombre
de
langues
enseign6es,
a
langue d'enseignement
t les
politiquesp6dagogiques
ouchant
les locuteurs de
langues
minoritaires.L'article
analyse
enfin les diff6rents mouve-
ments
linguistiques
et leur
influence
sur l'6ducation
en
Inde.
Resumen
-
La
cuesti6n
de
educaci6n
en la
India
no
podri
discutirseadecuadamente
sin hacerreferenciaa su contextosociolingfiistico.Este trabajoproveeinformaciones
de fondo
sobre el
perfil lingilistico
de
la
India.
Define
el
t6rminode
minorias
n
el
contexto indio
y
examina la
protecci6nque
la
Constituci6n
de
la
India ofrece
a
las
minorias
ingilisticas.
A
ello se
agrega
una
discusi6n
de
la
politica
lingiistica
en
la
educaci6n
india,
en
la
que
se analizan as
recomendaciones
de
las diferentes comi-
siones de
educaci6n.
Fntre otras
cosas,
los
puntos
tratados
on: el
nfimerode
lenguas
que
se
ensefian,
el
medio
de
instrucci6n,
y
las
politicas
de
educaci6n referentes
a
las
International
Review
of
Education
-
Internationale
Zeitschrift
ir
Erziehungswissenschaft
Revue
Internationale
de
l'Education
42(4):
327-347,
1996.
?
1996 Kluwer
AcademicPublishers.
Printed
in the
Netherlands.
-
8/11/2019 Minorities and Multilingualism in India 1
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328
personas
ue
hablan
enguuas
minoritarias.
l
articulo ambi6nrata os
diferentes
movimientos
ingfiisticos
sus
impactos
n la educaci6n
n la India.
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Indian
multilingualism
Language
s
one
of
the
most
debated
opics
in
Indianeducation.
Being
a
demo-
cratic,
multilingual
country,
India
and its
educators
are
constantly
grappling
with
the issue of
what
languages
should
be the media of
instruction,
partic-
ularly
with referenceto
speakers
of
minority
anguages,
some of
which lack
standardizedwritten
forms.
India's
linguistic
diversity
can be attributed
o:
(i)
differentwaves of
invasion
and
colonialization
(the
Aryans,
the
Moghul,
the
Portuguese,
the
British);
(ii)
free
migrations
within and between
the
different states and union territories; iii) political influences leadingto the
linguistic
reorganization
of states
following
Indian
Independence
n
1947;
and
(iv)
presence
of different
ethnic
and
religious
minorities distributed
throughout
ndia
(Buddhists
Jains,
Sikhs, Muslims, Christians,Zoroastrians,
and
others).
Politically,
India
s
divided
into
27
linguistically
organized
states
and nine
union
territories.
The
linguistic
scene
in India
is
very
complex
(For
an
overview
see Kachru
1983,
1990;
Khubchandani
988;
Pattanayak
990;
and
Sridhar
1989a).
In
every region
or
state,
in addition
to the
majority
regional
language,
the
linguistic
situation
is
complicated
by
the
presence
of several
minority
anguages,
as well
as caste
and
class
dialects,
some
lackingrecog-
nized
scripts.
Given
that there is little
agreement
among linguists
as
to
what
are
languages
and
what are
dialects,
it is difficult
to
say
with
certainty
the
exact numberof
languages
spoken
in India. The
earliest
attempt
at
codifying
the
linguistic diversity
of India was that
of
Sir G.
A.
Grierson,
who
identi-
fied
179
languages
and
544
dialects
in his
Linguistic
Surveyof
India,
carried
out
between 1886 and 1927. The
next
attempt
was
made in
the 1951
Census,
following
India's
independence.
The
census
listed a total
of
845
languages,
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329
including
dialects,
of
which
60
were
spoken
by
not less
than
100,000
persons
each for the redefined territoryknown as the Union Republic of India.
According
to
Pottanayak
1990:
1),
a
much more
dependable
accountof the
language
multiplicity
n India was
presented
n
the 1961
census,
based
upon
the
language
classification
scheme
of the
Linguistic Survey
of
India.
The list
presented
193
classified
languages
corresponding
o
1,652
mother
tongues
thatwere
actuallyreported Pattanayak
990:
1).
The
languages
belong
to four
different
language
families:
Indo-Aryan,
Dravidian,
Austro-Asiatic,
and
Tibeto-Burman.
The
majority
of
the
populationspeak
one
or more of
the 17
languages specified
in
Schedule
VIII
of
the
Indian
Constitution.
Ishwaran
(1969:
124)
points
out:
This
bewilderingvariety
of
languagesmay
be
misleading
f
it
is not
noted
that91%
of
the
population
speak
one or the other of
the
15
[now
17]
languages
specified
in the IndianConstitution Pattanayak 990: 2).'
Table 1
presents
the
scheduled
languages
of India from
the Census
of
India, 1981,
in
descending
order
of
speakers' strength
as
a
percentage
of total
population.
As seen in
Table
1,
no
single
language emerges
as the dominant
numeric
majority language
of the
country.
Even
Hindi-Urdu,
the
single
largest
lin-
guistic
grouping,
is
spoken
and
understood
by
only
45%
of
the
population.
The
Constitution
recognizes
Hindi
as
the
official
language
of
India,
and
English
as
the
associate official
language along
with
a
number
of
other
Table1.
Scheduled
anguages
n
descending
rder f
speakers'trength.
Language
Numberof
speakers
%
of
Total
population
Hindi
264,188,858
39.94
Telugu
54,226,227
8.20
Bengali
51,503,085
7.79
Marathi
49,624,847
7.50
Tamil
44,730,389
6.76
Urdu
35,323,481
5.34
Gujarati
33,189,039
5.02
Kannada
26,887,837
4.06
Malayalam
25,952,966
3.92
Oriya
22,881,053
3.46
Punjabi
18,588,400
2.81
Kashmiri
3,174,684
0.48
Sindhi
1,946,278
0.29
Assamese'
70,525
0.01
Sanskrit
2,946
Source: Census of
India
(1981).
*
No
census was taken in
Assam
in
1980.
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330
Table 2. State-wise distribution
f
regional
and
minority
anguages.
State/Union
erritory
AndhraPradesh
Assam
Bihar
Gujarat
Haryana
HimachalPradesh
Jammu
and
Kashmir
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya
Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamilnadu
Tripura
UttarPradesh
West
Bengal
Andaman
and
Nicobar
Arunachal
Pradesh
Chandigarh
DadraandNagarHaveli
Delhi
Goa,
Daman and
Diu
Lakshadweep
Mizoram
Pondicherry
Single largest
language
and
the
total
to
household
population
%)
Telugu
(85.13)
[No
Census
taken
in
1980]
Hindi
(80.17)
Gujarati
90.73)
Hindi
(88.77)
Hindi
(88.95)
Kashmiri
52.73)
Kannada
65.69)
Malayyalam
95.99)
Hindi
(84.37)
Marathi 73.62)
Manipuri
62.36)
Khasi
(47.46)
Ao
(13.94)
Oriya
(82.83)
Punjabi
84.88)
Hindi
(89.89)
Nepali
(62.57)
Tamil
(85.35)
bengali
(69.59)
Hindi
(89.68)
Bengali
(86.34)
Bengali
(24.68)
Nissi/Dafla
(23.59)
Hindi
(55.11)
Bhili/Bhilodi(68.69)
Hindi
(76.29)
Konkani
56.65)
Malayalam
84.51)
Lushai/Mizo
77.59)
Tamil
(89.18)
Percentage
of
population
speaking
other
minority
languages
14.87
19.83
9.27
11.23
11.05
47.27
34.31
4.01
15.63
26.38
37.64
52.34
86.06
17.17
15.12
10.11
37.43
14.65
30.41
10.32
13.66
75.32
76.41
44.89
31.31
23.71
43.35
15.49
22.41
10.82
Source: Census of India
(1981).
languages
included
in Schedule
VIII
(see
below).
Scores
of
other
languages
are not
recognized.
Each district
in
every
state/union
territory
in
India is
bilingual
and/or
multilingual,
with
speakers
of
minority
languages
ranging
from the
highest
(86.06%)
in
Nagaland
which
has no
majority
language
to the lowest (4.01%) in Kerala (Census of India 1981). Table 2 shows the
distribution
of
linguistic
minorities
in
all
the states
and union
territories
on
India.
Thus,
looking
at
the
figures
presented
in
Table
1
and
2
above,
it
is
clear
that
India
is
a
nation
of
linguistic
minorities.
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331
Minorities
in
the Indian
context
In
a
democracy
such
as
India,
where
people
are divided
in
terms
of
religion,
language,
caste,
race, culture,
and
socio-economic
factors,
one of
the
tasks
of
the
framersof
the
Constitutionof India was
to
devise
safeguards
or
the
country's
different minorities. At the time
[c.
1950],
the
demographic
cene
presented
a
peculiar
composition.
There were
politically recogni7ed
minori-
ties,
often with
religious
identities,
such
as the
Sikhs,
Muslims,
Christians,
Parsees
(Zoroastrians
who
came
to
India two millennea
ago
to
escape perse-
cution
in
Persia),
and
Anglo-Indians
born
of
mixed
marriages
between
the
English
and
Indians).
In
addition,
a
very large
numberof
other culturaland
linguistic
groups,
could be
distinguished
within
the
population
and
often
demanded
o
be
recognized
as
scheduledcastes and tribes.
The tribal
communities
n
India
deserve
special
mention.
According
to the
1980
census,
the
population
of
the scheduled
castes was
104,754,623,
and
the
figure
for
scheduled ribeswas
51,628,638.
About
23.519%
f the
country's
population
consistedof
scheduledcastes and
scheduled
ribes
(India
1985:
18;
Shah
1982).
The
census
listed
613
different
ribalcommunities
Government
of India
1978)
using
304
tribal mother
ongues
(mother
ongues
not
claimed
by
non-tribal
communities),
which were
reduced to
101
distinct identifiable
languages.
What
makes the
linguistic
scene
so
complex
is
that fact that most of the
tribal
communities are
linguistically heterogeneous
n
their mother
tongue,
and some are
ethnically heterogeneous.
This
is obvious from the difference
between the
numberof
tribal
communitiesand
the
numberof tribal mother
tongues
mentioned
above. For
example,
in
the northeastern
tate
of Assam
and in CentralIndia(MadhyaPradesh),whose tribalpopulationsare 7%and
22%
respectively
of
the total
tribal
population
of
the
country,
he
22 tribes of
Assam have
60
mother
ongues
grouped
nto
40
languages,
and
the
58 tribes
of
Madhya
Pradeshhave
93 mother
ongues
grouped
nto 38
languages(Itagi
et al.
1986).
In
some
cases,
the
dominant
anguages
with
which a tribal
community
s
in contact are
also
diverse.
This
is
due
to
the fact
that
either
(a)
the
geo-
graphical
boundary
of a tribal
community
iving contiguouslymay
have more
than one
dominant
anguage
around
t,
or
(b)
a
tribal
community
may
live
non-contiguously
n the
midst
of more than
one dominant
anguage.
Out of
the three
million
Santhals,
or
example,
about30% are
n contactwith
Bengali
in West
Bengal,
some 13% with
Oriya
in
Orissa,
and some
49%
with Hindi
in Bihar
(Annamalai
1990:
26).
In
the case of
India,
in
addition o
religious
andethnic
minorities,
one
can
also
identify
different
types
of
linguistic
minorities:
(i)
speakers
of minor
languages
(languages
not
included in schedule VIII
of
the
Constitution);
(ii)
speakers
of
major
anguages
who become
minorities
as a
result of
migra-
tion
(e.g.,
Telugu migrants
in
the
Kannada-speaking
tate
of
Karnataka);
(iii)
speakers
belonging
to
scheduled
castes
and tribes
(e.g.,
Gondi,
Santhali,
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332
etc.);
(iv)
religious
minorities,
e.g.,
Urdu
speaking
Muslims
all
over India
(Chakledar1981;Dua 1986); (v) linguisticminoritieswho speakmajor an-
guages
but are
a
minority
because
they
lack
numerical
strength
n their
juris-
diction
of
residence
(e.g., speakers
of
Sindhi, Kashmiri,
tc.);
and,
finally,
(vi)
ethnic minorities
(e.g., Anglo-Indians,
many
of
whom claim
English
as their
native
language).
Protection
offered
to minorities
in the Indian
Constitution
The
problem
of the
minority
arises
only
in a
democracy,
observed Professor
Humayun
Kabir,
... There can
be no
question
of minorities
except
in a
democracy.
Unless
there is a
democracy
the
problem
would not
arise in that
form at all
(quoted
in Kumar 1985:
9).
The
framersof the Indian
Constitu-
tion werewell awareof the
complexity
of the
minority
problem
n
India,
and
the
divisiveness that
could result in
a
newly
independent
ountry
f
the safe-
guards
or the minorities
were
not
clearly spelled
out. The fundamental
ights
are
guaranteed
o the citizens
as a whole.
This
means that these
fundamental
rights (including
the
right
of
all citizens
to maintaintheir
languages,
estab-
lish
their
own
schools,
etc. Fordetailssee
Kumar
1985),
are available o
every
citizen of India
regardless
of
their
caste,
creed, sex,
language,
race,
or culture.
Political
and
social
rights
are
guaranteed
o all
the citizens.
In
order that no
section of citizens suffer
by
whims
and
caprices
of the
majority,
the
Constitutionhas further
provided
not
only
basic
rights
to the
minorities but
also
such
rights
as would
help
them
conserve
their
religion,
culture and
language
(Imam
1972:
81).
Special
rights
for
the minorities
have been
designedin the constitutionto bringaboutequalityby ensuringthe preser-
vation
of
the
minorities
institutions
and
by
guaranteeing
to
the
minorities
autonomy
n the matter
of the
administration
f
these institutions.
Measures aken or
protecting
minorities
were
important.
TheBritish
policy
of
divide and rule had
made
minorities
suspicious
of the
majority.
In his
book
India in
Bondage,
J. T. Sunderland
proclaims,
. . Before the British
came to
India,
there seems
to
have
been
little
hostility
between Hindus
and Muslims....
It is
only
since
BritishRule
in
India
began
...
(1928:
267).
During
the
struggle
for
independence
one of
the
problems
n the transferof
power
by
the
British rulers
was the
problem
of the
protection
of minorities
in India.
Since
the
problem
of
minorities
had
assumed
religious
and
political
color,
the Indian national
Congress
(the
dominant
nationalist
political party)
was of
the
opinion
that
the
only
solution
to the
problem
of
minorities
was
to
incorporate
n
the
constitution
a
detailed
ist of
fundamental
ights, applicable
to all Indiancitizens
irrespective
of
their
affiliation
o
any particular
eligion.
While it
is
not
possible
here
to discuss
the
debates
hat
followed,
and the
revi-
sions that were
made,
several
resolutions
were
adopted.
For our
purposes,
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Articles
29
and
30
under
Part
III
of the
Constitution
are
most
relevant,
and
arepresentedbelow:
Article 29
Protectionof interests
of
minorities.
(1)
Any
section
of
the
citizens
residing
in
the
territory
of
India or
any
part
thereof
having
a distinct
language,
script
or culture
of
its
own shall have
the
right
to conserve
the same.
(2)
No
citizen
shall be
denied admission
nto
any
educational nstitution
maintained
by
the State or
receiving
aid out of
state
funds on
grounds
only by
religion,
race,
caste,
language
or
any
of them.
Article 30
Right
of
minorities to
establish
and
administer
educationalinstitu-
tions:
(1)
All
minorities whether
based on
religion
or
language,
shall
have
the
right
to
establishand administer
educational
nstitutions
of
their choice.
(2)
The state
shall
not,
in
granting
aid
to
educational
institutions,
discriminate
against
any
educational nstitutionon
the
ground
hat
it
is under
he
management
of a
minority,
whetherbased
on
religion
or
language.
Kumar
1985:
27)
The
States
Reorganization
Commission
that was set
up
in the
early
1950's to
rationalize the
administrative structure
of the
country,
soon realized
that
languages
of
minority groups
were
commonly
not
among
the
languages
mentioned
n
Schedule
VIII
of the
Constitution.
t,
therefore,
recommended
certainmeasures
o
promote
the cause of
linguistic
minorities.
Consequently
Article
350A
and
350B
were
added
to
the
Constitution.
Accordingly,
Article350-A It
should
be the
endeavour f
every
Stateand
of
every
local
authority
within
the
State
to
provide
adequate
acilities for instruction
n
the
mother
ongue
at the
primary
tage
of
education
o
children
belonging
o
linguisticminority roups;
and the
President
may
issue
such
directions o
any
State as he
considers
necessary
or
proper
or
securing
the
provision
for such facilities.
The
facilities
translates as
follows:
...
arrangements
must
be
made
for
instruction
n
the mother
ongue
by
appointing
one
teacher
provided
here are
not
fewer
than
40
pupils
speaking
the
language
n
the
whole
school or 10 such
pupils
in
a class ...
(India
1971:
81).
Article
350-B
makes
provisions
for a
special
officer,
the Commissioner
or
Linguistic
Minorities,
whose
sole
responsibility
would
be
to
safeguard
the
educationaland
linguistic
rights
of
minorities.
Article 350-B
Thereshall be a
special
officer
to
investigate
all matters
relating
to the
safeguardsprovided
for
linguistic
minorities under
this
Constitution
and
report
to
the
President
upon
those mattersat
such
intervalsas
the
President
may
direct,and the Presidentshall cause all such reports o be laid beforeeach house
of
Parliament,
and sent
to
the
Governmentsof the States concerned . . (Ekka
1984:
6).
The Office of the
Commissioner for
Linguistic
Minorities
has
been
given
the task of
protecting
he educational
rights
of
linguistic
minorities
n India
(Yaqin
1986).
The
question
we
need to ask is how well have these
linguistic
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minorities been able to exercise their
rights?
More
specially, regardless
of
theirnumericalstrength,have the minoritiesbeen able to exercise the basic
right
of
being
educated n theirown mother
ongue?
In
the
following
section,
we will
examine
in
some detail
the use of
minority
languages
in the Indian
educational
system.
Minority
anguages
and
the Indian educational
ystem
The
major
anguage
related ssues in Indianeducation
are:
(1)
languages
that
can
serve
as the mediumof instruction
at various
evels
and
in
different
ields,
(2)
languages
that should be studied
as
subjects,
and
(3)
roles to be
played
by
Hindi
and
English
(see
Khubchandani
981, 1988;
Sridhar
1985,
1989b,
1991;
S.
N.
Sridhar
1987).
For historical
reasons,
English
became
the medium
of
instruction
during
the British rule
in India.
Soon
after
independence,
it
was
felt
that the
only way
to revive the
long-neglected
Indian
anguages,
and
to ensure
democratic
rights
was to use
Indian
anguages
as media of instruc-
tion.
Prior o 1864
(when
English
was
institutedas the sole
medium
of instruc-
tion),
the
majorregional anguages
of
India
(See
Table
1)
were used as media
of instruction.
Hence,
they
could,
with some
modernization,
ulfill this new
role,
but
the
major
problem
was
in
the
case of the
minority anguages.
The
debates after
independence
centered
around wo
main issues:
(i)
whatshould
be the
medium for
minority language
speakers
at the
early
stages;
and
(ii)
for
how
long
should
English
continue
o be
the
medium
at
the
university
evel?
Series of
reports
were
produced.2
For ease
of
discussion,
we
will
consider
the
most
recent
reports,
beginning
with the
University
EducationCommission's
Report(1949). This Commissionrecommended hat students of the Higher
Secondary
and
University
stages
should be conversant
with
(a)
the
regional
language;
(b)
the
general language,
e.g.,
Hindi;
and
(c)
English
(India,
1959:
126-127).
This
policy
did
not favor the
speakers
of
minority
languages,
so
it was
replaced
by
the
recommendations
of
The
Secondary
Education
Commission
(1952).
The Commission
recommended hat
at the
Secondary
stage,
the
following languages
should be studied:
(a)
the mother
tongue;
(b)
the
regional
language
of the
state;
(c)
the
link
language
Hindi;
and
(d)
any
one
of the classical
languages
-
Sanskrit,Pali,
Arabic,
Persian
(India,
1953:
49).
The
Central
Advisory
Board
of Education
reviewed
this
report
and
proposed yet
another
policy, generally
known as the Three
Language
Formula .
This
wasreviewedand
accepted
n 1961.
According
o
this
formula,
a
child
should
study: a) regional anguage
of
the
State;
b)
Hindi n
non-Hindi
area
and
any
other
Indian
anguage
n the Hindi
area;
(c)
Fnglish
or
any
other
moder
European
language.
The
Education
Commission
(1964-1966)
examinedthis
formula,
and further
mproved
t
by recommending
modified
graduated
Three
Language
Formula
o include:
(a)
the
mother
tongue
or
the
regional
language;
(b)
the
official
language
of the Union
(Hindi)
or
the
associate official
language
of the Union
(English);
and
(c)
a
moder
Indian
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or
foreign
language
not coveredunder
(a)
and
(b),
and other than
that used
as medium of instruction.The modifiedgraduatedThreeLanguageFormula
from Nadkarni
1977: 101)
is
summarized n
Table
3
below.
Traditionally,
he
mother
tongue
has been
considered
the obvious and
optimal
medium
of
instruction n
schools,
at
least
at
the
elementary
evel.
The
rationales for the use
of
the
mother
tongue
are both educational
and socio-
cultural.UNESCO
recognized
he
importance
f
the mother
ongue
as thebest
medium
of
education and
stated
it thus in its
decree
of 1957. As
Skutnabb-
Kangas
rightly
points
out
(1994: 624),
In
a
civilized
state,
here
should
be no
need to
debate
he
right
o maintain nd
develop
he
mother
ongue.
t
is
a
self-evident,
undamental
inguistic
uman
ight.
...
It means he
right
o
learn
he mother
ongue,
rally
and
n
writing,
ncluding
at
leastbasic
education
hrough
he medium
f
the
mother
ongue,
nd
ouse it
in
manyofficialcontexts.
The
choice
of the mother
tongue
covers about75% of the
population.
This
still
leaves out a
huge
block
of
linguistic
minorities
(of
various
types),
whose
size
nearly
equals
the
entire
population
of the
US.
Given
the
large
numberof
Indian
languages,
and the
fact
that not
all
of
them
have
scripts,
and
some
that have
scripts
lack
any
kind of
literary
tradition,
how feasible
and
prac-
tical
is
this
population?
Sridhar
1994).
Table
3. Modified nd
graduated
hree
anguage
ormula.
Educational evel
Lower
Primary
(Grades
I-IV)
Higher
Primary
Lower
Secondary
Higher
Secondary
University
Languages
as
subjects
of
study
Mother
ongue
(Regional language)
(1)
Mother
ongue
(Regional language)
(2)
English
(1)
Mother
ongue
(Regional language)
(2)
Hindi
in
non-Hindiareas and a
modem Indian
language
n
Hindi area
(3)
English
Any
two from
Group
A or
Group
B
(A) (1)
Mother
ongue
(Regionallanguage)
(2)
Hindi
in
non-Hindiareas and a modem
Indian
anguage
n
Hindiarea
(3) English
(B)
(1)
A modem
Indian
anguage
(2)
A
modem
foreignlanguage
(3)
A
classical
language,
Indianor
foreign
No
language
compulsory
Source:
Nadkami
(1977: 101).
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A
further
complication
s added
by
the
prestige
accorded to
English.
The
Englishlanguage enjoys power and prestige for a detailed discussion,
see
Kachru
1990;
Sridhar
1977,
1989a;
Dasgupta
1993).
Since
English
con-
tinues
to be
used
in
both nationaland state-level
education,
and
is the medium
of
instruction n
most
subjects
at the
university
evel,
most
parents
are
anxious
to send
their
children
o
English-medium
chools.
There
s
a
flourishingprivate
industry
purporting
o educate children
through
the
English
medium
from
the
earliest
age.
All
thesefactorshave
compounded
o create
a
situationwhere
the
mother
ongue
is not
perceived
as the most viable medium of
instruction.
As Nadkari
points
out,
...
Our
approach
o
mother
ongue
ducation
s so
befogged
withsentimentalism
that
s
has become
mpossible
or us to view
language lanning
n
education
n
clear
pragmatic
erms
Nadkarni
986:
31).
The
fact
remains
that
not
all
languagesenjoy equal
status.
Only
17
languages
have
been
included
in schedule
VIII
of the Constitution.
Considering
the
number
of
languages
that are
spoken,
only
58 of
them
are
studied
and used
as media of
instruction
n the states and union territories
at
present.
The
58
languages
can be
sub-grouped
as follows:
Twenty-one
anguages
are considered cultivated
iterary anguages
(with
the
exception
of Khasi
and
Mizo),
are
recognized
official
languages,
and are
used
as
first, second,
or third
languages
(Arabic,
Assamee,
Bengali, English,
French,
Gujarati,
Hindi, Kannada,
Khasi,
Konkani,
Malayalam,
Manipuri,
Marathi,Mizo,
Oriya,
Persian,
Punjabi,
Sanskrit,Tamil,
Telugu,
Urdu).
Eleven
languages,
most of
which
are tribal
languages
(except
for
Sindhi,
Nepali,andTibetan),are either used as media of instructionor arestudiedas
second or third
anguages (Angami,
Ao,
Chokri,
Garo,
Karen,
Konyak,
Lotha,
Nepali,
Sema,
Sindhi,
Tibetan).
Twenty-six
anguages
are
studied
only
as
subjects,
as second or third lan-
guages
(Bodhi,
Bodo, Chakma,
Ghang,
Dogri,
German,
Hmar, Kashmiri,
Keiemnunger,
Kuki, Lai, Lakher,
Latin, Nicobarese, Pali,
Pawi,
Phom,
Portuguese,
Rengma,Sangatam,
Santali,
Syriac,
Tripuri,
Yimchunger,Zeliang)
(Chaturvedi
nd
Singh
1981:
37-38).
The
official
policies
of the
government
of
India,
as
well as all
the
state
governments,
subscribe
to the
principle
of
using
the
mother
tongue
as the
medium of instruction at least
in the initial
stages, ideally
throughout
he
educationalcareer.In the case
of
speakers
of the
major
national
anguages
of
the
country
who reside
in their
home tates
(i.e.,
approximately
1%
of the
population),
here
has been
no serious
problem
n
implementing
his
policy.
This
policy
has
been harder o
implement
n small
towns
andruralareaswhere
teachers
may
not be available for small
numbers
of children
of
migrants.
The
real
problem
s the choice of
medium of instruction
or
the minorities who
speak
one of
the
unrecognized
(tribal
or
other)
languages.
In the absenceof
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any
official
recognition
for
these
languages,
the
main
reason
for
using
them
as subjectsand/ormedia is to affirmthe student'slinguistic identityand to
aid
the
learning
of
basic skills such
as
literacy
and arithmetic.
Beyond
this
state,
it is
felt
(by
teachers and even
parents)
that
many
of these
languages
are
of
little
practical
value to
the
child,
if
only
because
there
is
little
written
material
available
n
these
languages
(Sridhar
1989b,
1991).
The
policy,
therefore,
has
been
to
provide
hree
ypes
of schools:
one,
where
the
principal
medium is
the
official
language
of
the state
(the
majority
of
schools are of this
type);
two,
where
a
minority
language
is used
as
the
medium
of
instructionwhenever here are at least
10
students
n a
given
class
who
request
t;
and
three,
wherea
minority
anguage
is used
as the
primary
medium n the
entire
school
(usually
these schools are eitherrun
by
minority
institutions,
or
by
state
governments
n areas with
substantial
presence
of
minorities).
In
the
case
of the
so-called
uncultivated r tribal
languages,
they
are
used as
media
usuallyonly up
to
the end of
the
primary
rades
hence
referred
o
as
subordinate
media)
at which
point
the
state
languages
take
their
place
as the
chief media. This has been
referred o
as
mainstreaming .
When
the
minority language
is one of the
recognized
national
languages
(e.g.,
Kannada
n
Andhra
Pradesh),
t is
allowed to
be
used
throughout
he
school
years.
All
the
states and union
territories
have
their own
state
official
language
as the
major
mediumof
instruction,
but
other
languages
as
well as
some
unrecognized
tribal
languages
are allowed
to
be
used
as
subordinate
media,
only
in
the
primary grades
(Chaturvedi
and
Mohale 1976:
46;
Khubchandani
988;
Sridhar
1991).
At the
college/university
evel,
replacingEnglish
as
the
medium
of
instruc-
tion has
proved
to be more
problematic.
Many
of
the reasons
for
this
situa-
tion are common to many multilingualformercolonial nations. English is
valued
as
a
neutral
anguage
among
rival
native
languages,
andit
is
regarded
as a
language
of
international
alue
which can also
be
used
nation-wide.
There
are certain
advantages
o
having
English
as the medium
of instruction:
t has
no territorial
estrictions,
and it
is
more
developed
in
vocabulary
and
regis-
ters
in such
areas as
science,
engineering,
and
medicine.
On the
other
hand,
fear
of
provincialization
and
retrogression
n
an
age
of
rapid
mobility
and
technological
nnovations,
plus
the
delay
in
giving
official
recognition
o
the
regional
languages
n
such domains as
administration
nd
law,
contribute
o
the
perception
hat the
regional
languages
have
limited
value
in
higher
edu-
cation.
Thus,
while the
policy-makers
recognize
the
need to
promote
all
mother
ongues,
several
problems
are
encountered
n
its
implementation.
ven
when
a
local
or
state
language
is made available
as medium
in a school
or
university,
t is
not
a
popular
choice
among
the
students or the instructors.
Krishnamurti
1979: 44)
cites
several
reasons
for
the
popularity
of
English.
Pragmatically,
ducation
hrough
he
medium
of
English
provides
nationwide
mobility,
while
education
through
the
regional
languages
is
perceived
as a
restrictive
orce.
The
sheer
prestige
of
English
as a
symbol
of
power,
know-
ledge,
and
sophistication
s
undoubtedly
a
factor in itself.
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338
For reasons cited
above,
English
continues
to be
the most
opted
for medium
of instruction at the college/university level. The Commonwealth Universities
Yearbook
(1987,
volume
III)
provides
information
about the
medium of
instruction
for
only
some
universities. In its
introduction,
the Yearbook sum-
marizes the
question
of the
medium of
instruction
at the
college/university
level
in India.
Historically,
English
was the
medium
of
instruction at
the
college/university
level
when
the modem
universities
were
started
in
the
1850s.
With
the
growth
of the
nationalist
movement,
and soon after inde-
pendence,
it
was
felt that Indian
languages
would
grow only
if
they
were
used
as
media of
instruction
at
higher
levels.
In
the vast
Hindi
belt,
some
colleges/universities
have switched to Hindi
as
the
medium of
instruction.
This
pattern
has
been followed
with one or
two
other Indian
languages
too,
...
but
the bulk of the universities continue
to
have
English
as
the medium
of
instructionwithan option given to students o use theirown languagealso. [espe-
cially
in
writing
examinationanswers
{my
personal
note}]
(Krishnamurti
990:
30).
Of the
154 institutions listed
in
the
1987
Yearbook,
there are 8
Central
Universities,
5
Indian Institutes
of
Technology
(IIT's),
24
Professional
(Agriculture,
Technology,
etc.)
Universities/Institutes,
20
Deemed
[to
be]
Universities and Institutions
of National
Importance,
and
96
multi-faculty
universities
(Krishnamri
1990:
19).
The
media
of
instruction
at
these institu-
tions
higher learning
are summarized
in
Table
4
below.
Table 4.
Medium
of
instructionat universities/institutes.
Institutions
Number
Medium
of
Instruction
Central
Universities
8
English
IndianInstitutesof
Technology
5
English
Professional
UnivJInstitutions
25
Not
stated
for most
Agricultural
Universities
22
generally
English
Gujarat
Ayurved
Univ.
1
J. N.
Technological
Univ. 1
IndiraKala
Sangit
Univ.
1
Deemed
to be Universities
20
English
(not
professional
nstitutions),
Sanskrit,Hindi,
English
(for
language
institutions)
Multi-faculty
Universities
96
English
at
post-graduate
evel and
regional
language
as
optional
medium
at the
undergraduate
evel
Total
154
Source:
Krishnamurti
1990:
20).
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most
comfortable
in,
95%
responded
Hindi.
Thus,
for tribal
speakers,
the
regional languageHindi is preferable o their mothertongue or English, at
least in the
opinion
of
the
teachers. Their rationale for
preferring
Hindi
becomes clear when
we
look
at the
next set of
questions
the answers o which
are
summarized
n Table 5.
Asked
if
the
Three
Language
Formula was
necessary
and
to
explain
whichthree
anguages
should
be studied
and
why ,
the
respondents
were
unanimous
in
their
support
for
the
three
language
formula .
The
respondents
were well aware
of the
realities,
and
their
choices in the
above
question
are further
upported
n their
response
to the
question:
What
level of
competence
should
be
expected
in
each
of the
above
languages ?
Their
responses
are summarized
n terms of
the overall
competence
they
expect
their students o
achieve
in
each
of these
languages:
Hindi: Fullcommand
understand,
peak,
ead,
write);
English:
Only
read
and
write;
Tribal:
Understand
nd
speak.
The
data,
though
imited,
suggests
that
t is the economic and
cultural
pressure
that
is
forcing
the
tribal
anguages
to
perform
most
L
functions
(Ferguson
1959).
Hindi is
not
accepted
universally
by
all
language groups.
Several
of
themhavebeen
agitating
or
their
rightful
place
in
the Indian
socio-political,
economic,
and
educational
systems.
While
some
languages
have been
agi-
tating
for
official
recognition,
others
for
more roles and
thereby
more
power
and
prestige
for their
language(s).
In the
following
section,
we
will
examine
some of those
movements
and
their
impact
on
the Indian educational
system.
Table 5. Reasons for
studying
various
languages,
according
to teachers.
English
should be studied
because it
is:
an international
anguage
67.8%
language
of tourism
16.1%
language
of
higher
education
7.1%
an
easy
andconcise
language
11.1%
Hindi
should
be studied
because
it is:
our national
anguage
and
for
national
ntegration
58.9%
our
mother
tongue
26.8%
easy to understand;/ouranguage 7.1%
Tribal
anguage
should
be studied:
for
regional/cultural evelopment
73.2%
only
in
the
primary
tages
26.8%
Source:
Sridhar
1991:
100).
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Language
movementsand
their
impact
on
Indian
education
The
state
policy
of
India s
affirmative
oward
minorities;
here
are no threats
to
annihilation
nor
are
there
pressures
to
assimilate.
A
number
of
constitu-
tional
safeguards
exist for
the
protection
of all
minorities,
regardless
of their
size
or educational evel.
India
has
been
able to
maintain
ts
multilingual
nature
for
thousands
of
years
by
allocating
different
ypes
of
social/political
roles
to
different
languages.
As
a
result,
it
has
sustained a
non-conflicting type
of
societal
bilingualism.
mplicit
n
it has
been a
pluralist
practice
whichencour-
aged linguistic
minorities to
retain
their
cultural
distinctiveness.
However,
several recent
language-related
policies
of
the federal
govern-
ment are
being
perceived
as
threats
o
linguistic/national
dentity
and are thus
being
opposed by
different
minority
groups
in
the form
of
linguistic
move-
ments
(Annamalai 1979).
The
rallying points
for
the
movements
revolve
around
the
following
issues:
(a)
the
government's
exclusionary
policies
as
reflected
in
the
granting
of
special
status to
selected
regional languages
by
including
them
in
schedule
VIII
of the
Constitution;
b)
demand or
language
standardization
e.g.,
Bengali)
and
inguistic purism
e.g.,
Tamil);
c)
demands
by
tribal
groups
for
using
their
languages
as
media
of
instruction
(e.g.,
the
Santhals);
and,
finally,
(d)
the
government's
decision
to elevate
Hindi,
a
north
Indian
anguage,
to
a
status ntended
o
make
it
become
the
official
language
of
India.
Speakers
of
Hindi
are,
in
fact,
pressuring
he
federal
government
o
accelerate
and
promote
the use of
Hindi
as the official
language
of
India.
The
above issues
plus
the
reaction/backlash
gainst
migrant
populations
and
their
perceived
unwillingness
to
learn
the
state
languages
have been
at
the
heart
of the
linguistic
movements
in
India.
The
situation
has
become
acute
becausethe questionof role allocationfor different inguisticcodes has been
politicized.
As one
political
scientist
applyputs
it:
Linguistic
iversity
asexisted n
India rom he
beginning
f
her
recorded
istory.
What s new
and
significant
or
political
study
s the mobilization
f
language
groups
or
socialand
political
bjectives.
These
processes
f
mobilization
nvari-
ably
result n
the
political estructuring
f
forces n
Indian
ociety.
(Das
Dupta
1975:
70)
Some
of
the
problems
that
we
face
today
are due
to
the
fact that
prior
to
independence,
ndia
was
divided
nto
princely
states,
with
each
state
following
its
own
linguistic
policies.
With
the
creation
of
Pakistanand
the formation
of
regional inguistic
states
soon
after
ndependence,
a
few
of the
languages
that
were
important
as official
languages
felt
powerless
in
the new
system. Only
a
few
were
raised
to
the
status of
regional
official
languages.
This blocked
the social
mobility
of the
members rom other
speech
communities.
Speakers
of
Konkani,
for
example,
felt
that
lack
of
standardizationwas
the reason
for
their
language
being
excluded
from
schedule
VIII
of the
Constitution.
Konkani,
a
language
spoken
in
Southwestern
ndia,
is written
using
different
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8/11/2019 Minorities and Multilingualism in India 1
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342
scripts:
Roman,
Devanagari,
Kannada,
and
Malayalam
S.
N.
Sridhar
1992).
Standardization f script,recognitionas an official languageof the Stateof
Goa,
and inclusion
in Schedule VIII
were
among
the demandsof
the
Konkani
speakers.
A
separate
dentity
was
demanded
or
Maithili,
a
sister
language
of
Hindi
from Northern
ndia
(Bihar).
Maithili
and
Konkaniwere
recently
ncor-
porated
nto schedule VIII
of
the
Indian
constitution. Others
have not been
so
successful.
Speakers
of Sindhi are
demanding
their
own
homeland ,
as
the
speakers
do
not have
a
geographical
area
they
can claim as
their
own.
They
are
distributed
all
over India
and Pakistan.
Some
tribal
groups
in India
also
feel
oppressed.
While
some
tribal
groups
have
accepted
the
regional
language
(e.g.,
the
Kurux)
and
opted
for
adapta-
tion
(Ekka 1979),
others
attempted
o
gain
autonomy
or to
assert
their
ethnic
identity
through
the
revival
of
their
languages
(Rao
1984;
Phadnis
1990).
The
Santhals are
a
tribal
communityspread
over four differentstates:
Bihar,
Assam, Orissa,
and
West
Bengal.
The
majority
communitieswant to
impose
their
own
dominant
anguages
for
the
region
(e.g.,
Hindi in
Bihar,
Oriya
in
Orissa
etc.),
and in
this
attempt
at
detribalization
xpect
the
Santhals
o
give
up
their
tribal traits. The tribal
eaders
fear
losing
their
cultural
values
and
have
initiated a movement
for the
preservation
of
tribal
education,
called a
great
tradition .This movement s
meant
to
create
and establish new
cultural
and
linguistic
markers
o ensure the
survival
of
the tribe
against
assimilation
and
absorption.
The
main
demands
of
this
group,
known
as
the
Adivasi
(aboriginal)
movement
nclude
(i)
the establishment
of a
separate
province
for the
tribal
groups;
(ii)
the
representation
f
the
tribe
in
the
state
cabinet
by
least
one educated member
of the tribal
group;
and
(iii)
the
introductionof
Santhali
and
other
tribal
anguages
as media
of instruction
n
schools.
In
this
movement, languageand traditionsof the community play a majorrole, a
sort
of
nativization
movement.
nstead
of
adopting
he
traditions
f
their
Hindu
neighbors,
there
is
an
attempt
o
codify
traditionsof the tribalSanthal
group
in
writing
and
to
develop
a
distinctive
script
to
record
these traditions.
Mahapatra
1979)
writes,
The
whole
attempt
as been
n
creating
nd
perpetuating
ew
boundary
markers
whichwill save
the
tribe rom
assimilation,
hether
hesemarkersre
beef-eating
or
cow
sactifice,
anguage
maintenance
r traditional
ances,
drinking
ice
beeror
worship
f the
traditional
ods
or thesacred
rove.
113)
The
Central Institute
of
Indian
Languages
(CIIL),
which
has
been
assigned
the
task
of
devising scripts,
curriculum,
and instructionalmaterials
for
the
tribal
anguages,organized
several
meetings
and
conferenceson
these
topics.
At one such
meeting,
in
May
1982
(Annamalai
1983),
it
provided
guidelines
for material
production
n
tribal
anguages.
For those
languages
that
lacked
a
script,
the
script
of the
dominant
regional
language
was
recommended or
use
( mainstreaming ).
his
policy
hasbeen
implemented,
nd
several
primers
and
other nstructionmaterials
have
been
published
using
several
of thetribal
languages.
Certain tribal
groups,
however,
favor
learning
Hindi
and
other
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343
regional
languages
(discussed
above,
in
Minority Languages
and the
Indian
EducationalSystem).
With
respect
to the Hindi
language,
two different
types
of
opposition
language
movements
may
be identified. One
type
of movement
s evidenced
in
collective
opposition
to
Hindi
by
other
linguistic
groups.
For
purposes
of
unification
and
nationalism,
Hindi,
the
language
most
widely
used
in
India
during
he
independence
movementwas chosen to be the official
language
of
India. Once
elevated to
this
status,
the
strongest
proponents
of Hindi
were
in
favor of
promoting
an
artificial
but
pure variety
of
Hindi
and
not the
common bazaar
ariety,
known as
Hindustani ,
which
was
the
language
of
the
independence
movement.
Hindustani
draws
its
vocabulary
rom both
Sanskrit,Persian,
and
other
regional
languages.
The
purists,
voicing
Hindu
nationalism,
wantedto
eliminate
words
of
Persian
origin
for
political
reasons.
They
also
wanted
an
immediate
switchover
to
Hindi and
elimination of
English.
This
angered
he
non-Hindi
speakers,
who
perceived
t
as an
example
of
linguistic
tyranny
and chauvinism.
For
these
reasons,
... the
broad
appeal
hat he
language
njoyed
n the
struggle
gainst
he colo-
nizer
waned
n the
post-independence
eriod
as
the
regional
anguages
egan
o
consolidate
heir
power
and
constituencies
nd
eared
he
hegemony
f
the
numer-
ically
strong
Hindi.
S.
N.
Sridhar 988:
300)
Hindiwas
widely opposed
violently by
several
regional
anguage
groups,
most
violently
in
West
Bengal
and
Tamil
Nadu
(South India).
The
people
in these
states felt that
Hindi
was a more recent
anguage
compared
o their
anguages,
Bengali
and
Tamil
respectively.
They
also
argued
that Hindi lacked
the rich
literary
raditions hat
Bengali
and Tamil
enjoyed.They
feared
that with
the
proposed policy, Hindi speakerswould have an undueadvantageover non-
Hindi
speakers
(Dwivedi
1981).
There has
also
been
opposition
to Hindi
from
within. This
is led
by
dif-
ferent
speech
communities
whose
linguistic
codes are
traditionally
reatedas
regional
dialects
of
Hindi.
The movement n this
case
is a demand
or
separate
states,
e.g.,
the
creation of
Bhojpur,
Vishal
Haryana,
and Bundelkhand.
According
to the
protagonists
of these
movements,
the
existing
state bound-
aries
drawn
on the basis
of dominant
anguages
are artificial
because
they
cut
across
linguistic
boundaries,
dividing linguistic
minorities.
For
example,
speakers
of
Bhojpuri
(a
regional
dialect of
Hindi)
are
spread
across
Uttar
Pradesh and
Bihar;
speakers
of
Bundelkhandi
dialect are
found
in
Uttar
Pradesh
and
Madhya
Pradesh;
and
speakers
of
Haryanvi
are found
in
three
states:
Haryana,
Uttar
Pradesh,
and Delhi
(Srivastava1984b: 108,
see
also
1984a).
Thus,
language
movements
against
Hindi illustrate the conflict on
the
following
levels:
(a)
as
a
language
of national
communication,
t
comes
into
conflict with
English,
which is
recognized
as the
associate official
language
of the
Union;
(b)
as a
developed
(inter-)
regional
language
at the
state
level
it comes into
conflict with
Tamil,
Bengali,
etc.;
(c)
as
a
lingua
francafor its
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own
dialects,
it comes into
conflict
with
Maithili,
Bhojpuri,
etc.;
(d)
as
an
alternateliterary variant it comes into conflict with Urdu; and (e) as an
interethnic
link
language,
it
comes
into conflict
with
Santhali,Khasi,
etc.
(Srivastava
1984b:
109).
Several
minority
and tribal
anguages
are
agitating
at
one or
more
of
these
levels
currently,
which adds
another dimension of
complexity
to an
already
complex
situation.
Conclusion
In
this
paper,
I
have tried
to show
how India
is
trying
to
come
to
grips
with
a
complex
language
situation
n
formulating
educational
policy.
The
educa-
tional
system
has to
deal with
mass
illiteracy
(currently
about
50%)
as well
as
space
age technology;
it has to
reconcile
the
understandable
ationalistic
pull towardthe indigenouslanguageswith the realistic need for continued
reliance on
the colonial
language;
t has to
ensure national
mobility
without
offendingregional linguistic
interests.
Against
this
background,
he
govern-
ment and
the
experts
have
forged
a
compromise
one
that institutionalizes
multilingualismby
actively
promoting
the
study
of three
languages.
Some
minority
communities n
India are
slowly
becoming
awareof their
rights
and
are
demanding
a
definite
place
in
the Indian educational
system.
Others
are
using
the
strategy
of
selective
adaptation
nd
assimilation.
The three
anguage
formula,
ogether
with an
ongoing
massive
literacy
campaign,
constitutes
one
of the
greatest
experiments
n
language
education
hatmankindhas ever
seen.
Developments
n the next
few
years
will
be
crucial
or
answering
he
question:
whether
major
languages
such as
Hindi or
English
will be
replacive
or
whether he minority anguagespeakerswill assert
their
right
to
be
educated
in
the mother
tongue,
thereby
extending
a
tradition
or
bilingual
education,
in which
minority languages
will
have
a
place
of
equal importance.
This
is
not an
easy
task,
especially
for
a
developing
economy.
But with
its commit-
ment
to
democratic
principles,
India is
making
a serious effort
toward the
preservation
and
promotion
of
minority anguages
by promoting
heir use in
the educational
system.
Notes
1.
Since
the
publication
f
this
paper,
wo
more
anguages,
Konkani
and
Maithilihave
been addedto the
list,
bringing
the
total to
17.
Since the two
languages,
Konkani
andMaithiliwere added
after
1981,
figures
for
these
languages
arenot available
in the 1981 Censusandarenot reportedn Table 1.
2. Some of
the
major reports
are
The
Conference
of the
vice Chancellors
of
Universities
(1948),
The
University
Education
Commission
Report
of
1949,
The
Secondary
Fducation
Commission
1952),
The
English
Review Committee
1955),
The Central
Advisory
Board
of Education
1957),
and The
Education
Commission
1964-1966.
For detailed
discussion
on these
reports
as well as
on this
topic,
see
Naik
and Nurullah
1985).
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8/11/2019 Minorities and Multilingualism in India 1
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345
3. Of
the
56
faculty
who
participated,
89%
claimed
Hindi as
their
mother
tongue,
while 47% claimed bilingualism in Hindi and a tribal language (e.g., Oraon,
Mundari,
Kurux,
Kharia,
Ho, Adivasi,
etc).
Most
of
the
respondents
were
highly
educated,
with
91%
possessing
bachelors
degrees
and
beyond.
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E.
1990.
Linguistic
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1983. A
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