Sustainable Development Through Multilingual Education

Passakorn Techamanakitchaikul, photographer
Dr. Kenmogne, SIL executive director, expressed his wish that multilingual education had been available for him and the people of his language community (Ghomálá'—a language of Cameroon's West Region) decades ago when he attended school.

(November 2016) At a recent multilingual education conference, SIL Executive Director Dr. Kenmogne said, “I’ve wondered if education is truly an enjoyable empowerment or is education just an ordeal for the children? It all depends on the choice of the languages that we use in the process of education.” He expressed his personal experience of attending primary school in a language he did not understand as traumatic. [See video below.]

More than 300 participants from 34 countries attended the 5th International Conference on Language and Education entitled: Sustainable Development Through Multilingual Education, held 19 - 21 October in Bangkok, Thailand. A wealth of mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) experience was presented and discussed. 

The conference explored recent developments in education policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific region, with a special focus on multilingual education (MLE) in early childhood and primary education. The sessions examined challenges and lessons learned since the last conference, and gave opportunities for future discussions on both the role of language in achieving the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and preserving a harmonious relationship between the global and local contexts.

Organizations involved in planning the conference included SIL International, UNESCO, UNICEF, The Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), Mahidol University, Care, Save the Children, and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau. SIL representatives moderated 17 panel discussions and presented 12 papers during the three-day event.

The conference began with a keynote address from Dr. Susan Malone, Senior Literacy and Education Consultant for SIL International. Dr. Malone related her experiences and lessons learned through decades of working with literacy and multilingual education projects around the world.


Dr. Susan Malone (right photo) said: “Mother tongue-based multilingual education is the only way to ensure that Sustainable Development Goal 4 will be achieved in non-dominant language communities.” [SDG4: to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning]  (Click images to enlarge) 

With more than 40 panels and 141 presenters*, participants had a wide variety of options to choose from. Conference panels were organized into the following four thematic tracks:

  • Language and Language-in-Education Policy and Planning in Asia and the Pacific
  • MLE Teachers and Teacher Training for MLE
  • MLE Practice/Praxis in Early Childhood and Primary Education
  • Language and Cross Cutting Issues of the Sustainable Development Goals.
     

For presenter Sivagami Sivasubbu from Chennai, India, the most important part of the conference was to hear stories from other participants about how to run a successful MTB-MLE project. Through her work with Aide et Action International, Sivagami has been involved in a MTB education project for the past four years. She said, “I encourage MTB education but how will the education system support it? I wanted to hear from other’s experiences and I heard a lot. It was quite encouraging and I will keep in touch with these people; a lot of networking happened. I heard experiences from Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand…it was very interesting.”

Participant Zin Zin Win from Myanmar attended, wanting to learn about language policy development. The organization Zin Zin Win works with, Pyoe Pin Programme, is co-chair of a language and education sub-working group in Myanmar that aims to contribute to state-level and eventually national level language policies for the country. Zin Zin Win said, “This is the starting point, the initial stage, to learn from the experiences of others, from language experts, from panelists, from presenters—their experiences, their knowledge, their theories and practices, especially good practices. Not only good practices but also the challenges, what they have already faced and what are their successes? We can apply this according to our Myanmar context, we can modify or adapt, in developing our language policy.”

One of the presenters, Ramya Mahabodhi, from Mahaweli National College of Education in Kandy, Sri Lanka, said this conference gave her new ideas for the college where she works that trains teachers in Sinhalese, Tamil, and English education. “We gained a lot related to this second language teaching and mother tongue-based language teaching—a lot of knowledge plus information related to our profession. It was really good for us,” Ramya Mahabodhi said.

Matt Wisbey, Associate Director-Resourcing and Communications for LEAD Asia, concluded the conference by reminding the participants of MLE's positive changes: it encourages diversity, collaboration, active citizenship, and community—which can result in innovative responses to caring for our world. "Clearly it’s not as simple as MLE equals these things—we know it’s not that simple. But we’ve seen the vital contributions MLE makes, and these changes are the only way that we can realize sustainable development."

 

Matt Wisbey's session concluded the conference by encouraging the participants in their positive efforts towards sustainable MTB-MLE.  (Click image to enlarge) 

SIL International supports language communities and their partners in developing reading and learning materials that MTB-MLE students need in order to be successful learners in each grade and in all subjects. SIL staff also provides technical input and support for training language communities, government and nongovernmental agencies for the planning and implementing of strong and sustainable MTB-MLE programs in both the formal and non-formal systems.

* All presentations will be available on the conference website here.

 

Related links: