131D_Manocha

1. SAKSHI MANOCHA
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
INDIA
A COMPARISON OF SCHOOLING
EXPERIENCES OF SAORA CHILDREN IN
MLE PLUS AND ODIYA MEDIUM SCHOOLS
OF ODISHA

2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
MULTILINGUAL RUBRIC OF INDIA
3372 MOTHER TONGUES (1576 listed, 1796 as
‘other’ languages)
22+1 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
80% of the Indian languages (most of them
being tribal) are excluded from the
mainstream society.

3. CONSEQUENCES OF EXCLUSION OF
LANGUAGES
• Poor education performance
• High rates of ‘Push-out’
• Capability deprivation and poverty
• Loss of Diversity
(Mohanty, 2008; Tove & Skutnabb-Kangas 2000).

4. MOTHER TONGUE BASED MLE
PROGRAMME IN INDIA
MLE DEFINITION: “Use of two or more languages as
media of instruction in subjects other than the
languages themselves and with (high levels of)
multilingualism and, preferable, multiliteracy, as a
goal at the end of formal schooling”. (Mohanty, Panda,
Phillipson & Skutnabb-Kangas, 2009)
MLE programme was initiated on pilot basis in
Andhra Pradesh in 2003 and in Odisha in
2006.

5. MLE AND MLE PLUS PROGRAMME
MLE PROGRAMME: It is a mother tongue based
Multilingual Education programme based on Jim
Cummins BICS and CALP.
MLE PLUS PROGRAMME: MLE Plus programme was
initiated with the aim to strengthen the existing MLE
practices in the classrooms with the theoretical
grounding of Cultural Historical Activity Theory
(CHAT) approach of Vygotsky. (See Panda and
Mohanty, 2009)

6. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To examine the role of mother tongue and
children’s cultural practices in determining
the quality of experiences of schooling
among Saora children studying in MLE Plus
and Odia Medium schools.
To study the nature of student-teacher
relationship in MLE Plus and Odia Medium
school.

7. METHOD
CULTURAL HISTORICAL ACTIVITY THEORY (CHAT)
by Engestrom (1987) formed the theoretical basis of
this study.
SAMPLE FOR THE SUDY
• 1 MLE Plus school in Gajapati District of Odisha
• 1 Odia medium school in Gajapati District of Odisha
• 8 students from 3rd
standard from each school were
selected respectively, parents of students and
teachers were also participants in the study.

8. CONTINUED…
Data was gathered using the three general
methods common in Qualitative research:
interviews, observations and focused group
discussions.
Method of Analysis - Content Analysis

9. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
1. Saora language and culture not a part but the
essence of MLE plus classroom

10. 2. No room for Saora language and culture in Odia
medium schools.

11. CHILDREN ENJOY HAVING THEIR
LANGUAGE, GAMES AND SONGS IN
SCHOOL
“I like language
class, because, in
this subject we
read our stories
and sing our songs.
I enjoy them a
lot.”- Student, MLE
Plus school

12. SAORA CHILDREN FEELING ALIENATED IN
ODIA-MEDIUM SCHOOL
“Our teacher doesn’t
teach us in Saora and
as we don’t know
Oriya, I find it difficult
to understand what all
he teaches in class.”-
Student, Odia Medium
school.

13. MLE PLUS TEACHERS USING CULTURAL TOOLS
TO ESTABLISH A LINK BETWEEN EVERYDAY AND
ACDEMIC KNOWLEDGE
Example: Using local
measuring system to teach
children about universal
measuring system.
“My favourite subject is maths
because I like the way sir
teaches addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division
with the help of our games
and our songs.” - Student, MLE
Plus school.

14. LIMITED USED OF CHILD’S SOCIO-
CULTURAL CONTEXT IN ODIA MEDIUM
SCHOOLS
“I am concerned that because MLE programs are
emphasising too much on use of Saora in
schools, how will children progress with Saora
language? It will only confine them. Though I
agree if we have Saora teachers it is good but
teaching in Saora language is not recommended
by me.” - Teacher, Odia medium School.
children felt alienated and were unable to see
any connection between their everyday
knowledge and academic knowledge.

15. 2. STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP
CMW a bridge between school and community
Sharing a bond with the children
“As Saora Children cannot understand dominant
languages teaching them in MT facilitates better
learning and growth of these children. Not only this,
MLE program also strengthens the bond between
teacher and student and improve our relationship
…
As Tribal children are shy & afraid, when I teach them
in Saora language, sing our songs, children feel
connected to it and thus our relationship improves
with them. Children become more confident and
participate in class.”- MLE Plus teacher, Tumulo
Village.

16. BREAKING THE HIERARCHICAL
RELATIONSHIP
Unlike Odiya medium teachers who
act as directors or managers, whose
role is to maintain order in class and
transfer the technical skills without
engaging with children in pedagogic
practices. MLE Plus Teachers engage
children in various activities and
encouraged them to participate in
academic discourses.
Normative rules for both the schools
were also different – e.g. need to seek
permission before going to the
washroom etc.

17. FEARLESS VOICES IN MLE PLUS SCHOOL
“Initially, I was afraid of coming to
school but because our teacher is so
warm and friendly and he teaches us in
Saora, I felt much better and now I enjoy
coming to school. I like to read, write
and playing with my friends in school.” –
student, MLE Plus school.
Children in MLE Plus school actively
participate in classroom discourses,
whereas participation in MLE classroom
was passive.
Do not take knowledge as filtered by
teachers and voice their opinions.

18. CULTURE OF SILENCE IN ODIYA MEDIUM
SCHOOLS

19. CONTINUED…
• Children wanted to avoid
teacher’s question and
attention.
• Children remained tight
lipped in class room.
• Took knowledge as filtered
down by the teacher.
• Felt threatened in teacher’s
presence.

20. PARTICIPATION IN EXTRA-CURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
In MLE Plus School, children actively
participate in various activities like
debate, singing, drawing and sports
competition.
“if we had kept these competitions in
Oriya then none of the children would
have participated. Because children
speak in Saora well, sing their songs,
they actively participated in these
activities.”- MLE PLUS TEACHER
Children in MLE Plus schools could
narrate their experiences, articulate
their thoughts, speak about their
culture with pride

21. CONTINUED…..
Children in Odiya medium schools were hesitant to
narrate their schooling experiences, were scared to
talk about their culture and could not express their
thoughts and feelings in Odia.
“No, I don’t know any poem or song not even
in Saora. Our teacher doesn’t teach us any
poem or song, so I don’t know.”- student,
Odiya medium School.

22. ISSUES OF CONCERNS
The issue of language and power, and low
self-concept of Saora people created
contradictions in the schooling experience
of children leading to inner tensions.
Other factors such as low participation of
Saora parents in education of their children,
lack of good teachers, infrastructural
problems also created impediments in the
learning experiences of children.

23. CONCLUSION
The results of this study showed that bringing
Cultural tools like children’s language, folktales,
songs and games to school and linking it to
academic concepts not only enhanced
children’s participation, engagement in
academic discourses and learning but also
created space for children to fearlessly express
themselves and strengthen their bond with their
teachers and community.

24. THANK YOU