Project Samhati: Odisha

• 20 Nov 2021

Why in News

The new National Education Policy 2020 lays emphasis on imparting teaching in the mother tongue in primary classes. However, when seen from the context of the diverse language-base of tribal people, the task appears to be quite onerous.

• In this scenario, Odisha’s decade-long experiment in multilingual education may come in handy to take up the challenge.
• The most important aspect of Mother-Tongue Based Multi-Linguial Education (MTBMLE) is that it helps save endangered tribal languages.

Key Points

• The ST and SC Development Department of the Odisha government has started a project called ‘Samhati.
  
  • It intends to address the language issues faced by tribal students in early grades or elementary classes.
  • Under this, the department plans to cover approximately 2.5 lakh students in 1,450 primary schools in the State.
• Implementing Agency: The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI) along with the Academy of Tribal Language and Culture (ATLC), Bhubaneswar are implementing the project.
• Multilingual Learning: Under Samhati, it has been decided that all teachers of primary level would be provided functional knowledge of tribal languages and ways of communicating with tribal students.
  
  • Odisha’s adivasi communities are as diverse as 21 spoken languages. Out of the 21 languages, Santhali, the only language which has been included in the eighth schedule of Constitution.
    
    • It is taught in its own ol chiki script while the rest of tribal languages have Odia scripts.
  • Only six tribal languages — Santali, Ho, Soura, Munda and Kui — have a written script.
  • These students are a multilingual group unlike mono-lingual groups in regular schools.

Way Forward

• A tribal student sees the world through his own language. The mother-tongue based education is a welcome step. There are some civil society organisations in Odisha that have demonstrated promising models of the MTBMLE education system (e.g. Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)).
• The tribal languages are used as a medium of instruction in primary schools, these languages need to be standardised.
• Efforts should be made to develop textbooks in tribal languages in sync with the syllabus of State boards, government textbook norms and National Education Policy.

Source: TH