Millions of children are missing out on an education because their schools teach in a language they don’t understand, according to our new report.
Thursday 26 November 2009
Of the 75 million children who are out of school worldwide, 54 million (72%) live in countries that have big divisions between different language groups. Only the national language tends to be used for teaching in these countries, according to our research. An estimated 221 million children worldwide are not able to learn in a language they speak at home.
“Not being able to understand the language used for teaching is a major reason why children drop out of school or fail to do well,” said Helen Pinnock, Save the Children’s Education Advisor. “It contributes to millions of children missing out on a decent education simply because they can’t speak the school language."
Children not taught in mother tongue perform worse in tests
Whether or not a child is taught in their first language can have a strong impact on their school attendance and on how well they perform. Children who are not taught in their mother tongue often perform worse in tests and can learn to copy and recite texts from blackboards without being able to understand them properly.
The country with the largest number of spoken languages is Indonesia with 747, but even those with fewer linguistic groups face significant challenges. In some countries school is taught in a former colonial language that very few families speak at home. For example in the Democratic Republic of Congo school is taught in French, but most people speak local languages like Lingala, Kiswahili, Kikongo or Tshiluba.
This has an impact on children's performance as they struggle to learn in a language with which they are not familiar. In other countries, like China or India, with a large number of ethnic minority groups, having to learn in an unfamiliar language can add to the discrimination these groups are already facing.
Potential impact on economic growth and political stability
Governments in countries where many languages are spoken often promote one language as important for communication and economic advancement. However, the fact that large percentages of school-aged children are not being properly educated can actually delay the economic growth of a country. Excluding groups who do not speak the main language from education can also lead to conflict and political instability.
We recommend that children should be taught in their mother tongue for at least six years, at the same time as gradually introducing second languages. Donors funding education in developing countries must prioritise investment to tackle language barriers and encourage countries to support multilingual education.
“The money that is being invested in education would go a lot further if it were focused on children understanding their lessons,” Pinnock continued. “In countries where children aren't taught in their first language, breaking down language barriers is one of the best ways of tackling dropout and poor educational performance.”