State yet to bring Eearly Childhood Education law for tribal children

BHUBANESWAR: “The scope of education for the 1.4 million young tribal children in the State is at stake as any law regarding mother tongue based early childhood education is yet to come,” said Odisha Adivasi Manch (OAM) convener Bidulata Huika here on Thursday.

At a Press conference on the occasion of International Mother Language Day organised by the OAM with VASA regarding the campaign on Early Childhood Education (ECE) in mother tongue, Programme Manager of the campaign Sudhir Kumar Digal urged the State Government to implement the decision taken by the Chief Secretary on July 31 last year to introduce mother tongue based multi lingual education for young tribal children. “The Government had assured us to implement the decisions taken after the meeting within next three months, but we are yet to see any changes,” said Digal.

OAM advisor Badal Kumar Tah said the Government should proactively implement the decision which would inspire the tribal children to go to school as the mother tongue based childhood education creates interest to learn from the teachers. “We know that most of the tribal children leave school due to language problem,” said Tah, adding, “If the Government introduce mother tongue based ECE, it would create understanding and participation in the classroom setting and later on it becomes a platform for learners to gradually transfer skills from the familiar language to the unfamiliar one.”

The OAM urged the Government to immediately publish a gazette notification in this regard and convey the decision to all the concerned officials to implement it. The Manch also appealed to the Government to develop curriculum in 19 tribal languages instead of 10 to cover all the tribal children of the State.