38906 In Their Own Language...Education for All Fifty percent of the world's out-of-school children live in communities where the language of schooling is rarely, if ever, used at home. This underscores the biggest challenge to achieving Education for All (EFA): a legacy of non-productive practices that lead to low levels of learning and high levels of dropout and repetition. In these circumstances, an increase in resources, although necessary, would not be sufficient to produce universal completion of a good-quality primary school program. June 2005 That children learn better longer, reach higher levels of education overall and increase social mobility. if they understand the language spoken in school would seem an obvious observation--and indeed, it Improved learning outcomes. In Mali, end-of-pri- is borne out by study after study. Even where an mary pass rates between 1994 and 2000 for children important goal of schooling is for children to learn a who transitioned gradually from a local language to second language, this too is facilitated by starting French were on average 32% higher than for children with a language children already know. Research in French-only programs (see Chart 1). provides convincing evidence that a second lan- guage is learned best when a first language is The use of a language that children understand allows learned well. In the late-exit bilingual model, chil- teachers to use more active and more effective teach- dren learn to read in the language that they speak ing methods. Supporting mastery of the first language at home, with a second language introduced in the promotes the cognitive development needed to more early grades. Instructional time in that language easily learn a second language. In Brazil, for example, then increases gradually. first language teaching has been linked to better acquisition of literacy skills. Several independent stud- Benefits of the Use of First ies with indigenous populations have demonstrated that the use of children's home language has been Language Instruction successful in raising levels of literacy in the local lan- guage and the national language (Portuguese), as well First language instruction results in (i) increased as raising achievement levels in a variety of academic access and equity, (ii) improved learning outcomes, subjects. In Burkina Faso, children with initial literacy (iii) reduced repetition and dropout rates, (iv) socio- in the Mooré language before beginning instruction in cultural benefits and (v) lower overall costs. French achieved better results in French and mathe- matics than students who had only participated in Increased access and equity. Bilingual programs French-language schooling. The use of local languages have generally been instituted in rural areas, among also ensures that the knowledge children bring to more marginalized populations. They have been schooling is used as a basis for further learning. widely shown to help those children stay in school Reduction of repetition and dropout. In Mali, where about 10% of primary school children are in Chart 1: End-of-primary Examination classrooms that use first languages as languages of Pass Rates, 1994-2000 instruction; these children are 5 times less likely to 80% repeat the year and more than 3 times less likely to drop out of school. In bilingual schools in Guatemala, 70% covering about 15% of the population, grade repeti- 60% tion is about half that of traditional schools, while 50% dropout rates are about 25% lower. These results are all the more significant because children receiving 40% instruction in first languages are often from more at- 30% risk populations. 20% Socio-cultural benefits. The use of local languages 10% for instruction often leads to inclusion of more local 0 content in the curriculum and greater participation of 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 parents and community members as classroom Convergent Pedagogy French-only resources. Parents are better positioned to become involved in the school and to feel that their knowl- Source: Bender, 2005. edge and their culture are valued. The legitimization Table 1. Simulated Cost Savings and Benefits as of local languages that comes from their use in a Result of Reduced Repetition and Dropout Due schooling can strengthen children's, families' and to PRONEBI communities' sense of inclusion in schooling. The use PRONEBI Traditional of local languages in formal education has a positive Repetition Rates (1991) .25 .47 impact on adult literacy as well. As parents see their Annual Unit Costs Q 246 Q 235 children successfully learn to read and write in their own language, the parents are often motivated to Number of Indigenous 96,194 653,413 Students (1991) attend literacy classes as well. Total Cost of Repetition Q 5,892,005 Q 72,169,440 Lower Costs. The financial benefits of the use of Simulated Savings Due Q 32,147,955 to PRONEBI local languages in education derive largely from decreases in repetition and dropout. In the few cases Dropout Rates (1991) .13 .16 where these benefits have been calculated, the savings Simulated Decrease in 3,927 Dropouts Due to PRONEBI have considerably outweighed the incremental costs of establishing and maintaining schooling in local lan- Simulated Annual Incremental Q730,422 Earnings Due to PRONEBI guages (production of learning materials, teacher training, etc.). In Mali, for instance, a World Bank Source: World Bank, HCO Dissemination No 60, study found that French-only programs cost about 8% October 1995. less per year than mother-tongue schooling, but the total cost of educating a student through the six-year primary cycle is about 27% more, largely because of and weak implementation capacity. In many develop- the difference in repetition and dropout rates. Similar ing countries, materials in even one language are benefits have been found in Guatemala (see Table 1). scarce, which leads to an understandable reluctance to try to publish books in several languages, where it is If It Works So Well, harder to achieve economies of scale. Yet technologies like desktop publishing are changing the situation. Why Isn't Everyone Doing It? Papua New Guinea, for instance, has published mate- rials in hundreds of languages by using a basic 'shell book' format. As of 2000, the country was using 380 Many developing countries have been reluctant to languages in schooling. The Democratic Republic of adopt a policy of delivering basic education in local the Congo has long published materials in the four languages. Donors have also not given high priority to languages which are regional lingua franca. Mali is such policies and in some cases have actively opposed currently providing education in 11 languages with them. Governments have cited goals such as the materials made available in each language. reduction of ethnic tensions and national unity as rea- sons to use foreign languages in education, although A further challenge is that where there are many there is limited support in recent history for the unify- languages, formerly centralized approaches to ing role of a single national language in a multilingual teacher development and deployment will need to country. Other countries have decided to use several be modified. To address this challenge, countries can or even all of their national languages in order to decentralize the recruitment of teacher candidates avoid internal conflict. For example, upon independ- and pre- and in-service teacher training can also be ence, the Government of Eritrea committed to provid- managed regionally rather than centrally. ing public education in all of its languages, in part to avoid internal disunity. Another obstacle is that parents and teachers may resist the use of the mother tongue as a language of A more pressing obstacle to the use of local languages instruction. In Mexico, researchers have found that in schooling has to do with high development costs some parents who speak Triqui believe that Spanish is more important in school because it is the "lan- Lessons Learned guage of progress." Similarly, in Haiti, many parents resist the use of Creole as the language of instruction The use of first languages as languages of instruction because the mother tongue is thought to be the lan- can contribute to the attainment of EFA goals and guage of the poor and the oppressed. A campaign to should be a part of the World Bank's dialogue with explain language policy and its benefits is an essential educators and policy-makers. Particular attention part of any solution but ultimately, resistance will should be paid to the following issues: continue unless the education system is designed to value what children themselves bring to the learning Policy formulation around language of instruction process. Further, parents who hesitate to send their issues and successful implementation require politi- children to a mother tongue-medium classroom are cal commitment and the support of parents and often convinced of its value when they see children in community members. the bilingual program outperforming their official-lan- guage counterparts by the end of the 4th grade--in Bilingual programs are most successful where the the official language. goal is to make children literate in their first lan- guage and also to acquire fluency in the second Resistance will continue unless the education system (usually the former colonial) language; these supports the use of local languages in several ways: should not be either/or propositions. ensuring a constant supply of appropriate textbooks and other materials, training teachers in the benefits of The policy environment of language reforms must using local languages for instruction as well as in be carefully managed, with significant training and appropriate methods, and ensuring that high stakes planning, to include: examination systems reward the skills in which children instructed in local languages excel (i.e. redesigning Consensus building and awareness campaigns exams to emphasize reading, writing and problem solv- among teachers, parents and NGOs; ing, not just extensive memorization of second lan- guage texts). Mali, for instance, overcame some teacher Professional development for teachers; resistance by designing the reform to include (i) teacher Curriculum and teaching materials develop- training in active and effective teaching methods, (ii) a ment and consistent provision of high or equiv- transfer to the second language in the early grades and alent quality materials at the classroom level; (iii) changing examination policies and ensuring 'quick and wins' for teachers, students and parents. Literacy classes for adults can also reduce parental reluctance Financial support, particularly for initial invest- and provide legitimacy for local language. ment costs. This note series is intended to summarize lessons learned and key policy findings on the World Bank's work in education. The views expressed in these notes are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank. For additional copies of Education Notes, please contact the Education Advisory Service by email at eservice@worldbank.org or visit the web site: http://www.worldbank.org/education/ This report reflects contributions from Penelope Bender, Nadine Dutcher, David Klaus, Jane Shore and Charlie Tesar. Photographer: Eric Miller, 2002