Proficiency in first language makes it easier to acquire a second: Banerji

Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation, tells Aditi Phadnis the New Education Policy will help bridge the gap between education and learning. Edited excerpts:

Pratham has done exhaustive work on the quality of school education. How far does the NEP address this issue?

Over the past 15 years, the Pratham-facilitated Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has pointed out that school enrolment levels in India are well over 95 per cent, but the level of basic reading and arithmetic has remained consistently and worryingly low. Children begin to fall behind early in their educational careers, suggesting that children who enter school are not ready to deal with what is expected of them in early grades. While there con be debates and discussions on why this happens, economists, such as Lant Pritchett, point to the learning gap as a “negative consequence” of an “overambitious curriculum”. Nobel prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo argue that in a typical Indian school, teaching is geared to the “top of the class”, which leaves increasing numbers of children behind as a cohort moves from one grade to the next. Thus, a major challenge plaguing the Indian school system has been that years of schooling do not translate into equivalent years of learning.

The NEP squarely acknowledges this critical challenge. While the document has many suggestions for reforming education, three key elements need to be highlighted. First, if many children are disadvantaged right at the start of their school career by not being “ready for school”, it is imperative that time and effort be put into preparing children for entry to formal schooling. The NEP recommends a total of three years of pre-primary exposure before Grade 1. Second, it suggests teaching-learning activities and institutional support for the age group 3 to 8 needs to be seen as a continuum. Third, the NEP categorically states every child should “attain foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3”. It goes on to say “the rest of this policy will become relevant only if this basic learning requirement if first achieved”.

The NEP says wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably until Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother-tongue/ local language/regional language. This should be followed by public and private schools. Is this practical? What effect will this have on teaching?

Communication between two parties is most effective when both sides understand and can use the same language. Empirical evidence from around the world reinforces the view young children learn best in a language that they are familiar with. Research indicates proficiency in the first language makes it easier for children to acquire a second or a third language. The closer the school language is to the home language, the easier it is for young children to make the transition from home to school. Apart from elite or urban schools, most schools in India, even those which call themselves “English medium”, actually use the local language for interactions. Even in the Hindi heartland, often the home language is not Hindi. For example, in Bihar, families speak languages like Bhojpuri or Maithili, and children learn to deal with Hindi once they come to school.

For children, an important part of their transition from home to school is the transition from communicating in their home language to becoming adept in the use of the regional language or the language used in school. With the flexible three language formula proposed in the NEP, it should be possible to invest in home language and local language instruction, while at the same time developing appropriate levels of English as a subject for school children.

Three compulsory years of pre-school — apart from the effect on growth and development of children, doesn’t this mean parents will now have to look for pre-school in the private sector, given there are no government pre-schools?

Practically in every habitation in our country, especially in rural areas and villages, there is an Anganwadi. The Anganwadi system in India is one of the largest early childhood programmes in the world. Anganwadi workers have a triple set of responsibilities — health, nutrition, and early childhood development. Due to a variety of reasons, the pre-schooling component often gets less priority than it should. Therefore, until now, parents with high educational aspirations for their children had two options. The first option was to enrol their children in private pre-schools within their reach in terms of cost and distance.  The second option was to enrol their children, earlier than the official age cut off, to Standard I.

To provide an accessible and affordable additional option, the education department in some states has recently begun to experiment with pre-primary classes in primary schools.  For example, in the last two years, Punjab has set up a pre-primary grade in each of their government primary schools. Himachal Pradesh has done the same in a third of all schools. This large-scale investment in pre-primary schooling in both states has yielded promising results. Both states have been actively exploring possible synergy with the Anganwadi system. As other states begin to consider how to bring pre-primary into the ambit of school education, the experiences of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh can be helpful.

The launch of the NEP early in the 2020 school year, together with the announcement of the National Mission for Foundati-onal Literacy and Numeracy, presents an opportunity to build (or re-build) the very foundations on which the child’s later life will depend. As soon as schools reopen, the essential task of bringing every child back to school and of ensuring every child learns must become a national priority.