Introduction
This booklet for policy makers describes the purposes, benefits and principles for establishing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education( MTB MLE) programmes for children who are not yet fluent in the official language of education when they begin school. Why do UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank, numerous international organizations and many national governments support MTB MLE? They support it because they have seen that it works! Here is what one well-respected researcher has written about bilingual / multilingual education:
40 + years of research from countries around the world have provided a solid basis for planning bilingual education programs.
Bilingual programs have demonstrated“ proof of concept” both for developing fluency and literacy in two languages for linguistic minority and majority students and for promoting academic achievement among subordinated group students...( Cummins, 2008).
Background to the current MTB MLE movement
In 1990, government officials from 155 countries met in Thailand for the first“ World Conference on Education for All”. During that conference, they identified the actions that governments should take to ensure that all children and adults in their countries have access to quality education( UNESCO, 1990).
In 2000, government officials from 164 countries met in Senegal for the second“ Education for All”( EFA) conference. Once again, delegates agreed on the activities that governments should take to support EFA. Special emphasis at the second EFA conference was on primary school-age children, including those who have traditionally lacked access to formal education( UNESCO, 2000).
Also in 2000, in a meeting at the United Nations( UN) headquarters in the USA, leaders of 189 countries agreed to work together to achieve eight“ Millennium Development Goals”( MDGs) by 2015. Goal 2 called on governments to“ Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling”( United Nations, 2000)
By 2010, however, it was clear that few governments would achieve the Education for All priorities or Goal 2 of the MDGs by the target date of 2015. The Working Group on EFA identified the problem:
Booklet for Policy Makers
1