Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:11:58.418Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The MLE Teacher: An Agent of Change or a Cog in the Wheel?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2014

Urmishree Bedamatta
Urmishree Bedamatta*
Affiliation:
Department of English, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India
*
address for correspondence: Urmishree Bedamatta, Department of English, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, 753003, India. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This article examines the role of the multilingual education (MLE) teacher in the mother tongue-based MLE program for the Juangas, a tribe in Odisha, an eastern state of India, and is part of a broader study of the MLE program in the state. For the specific purpose of this article, I have adopted Welmond's (2002) three-step process: identifying culture-specific knowledge about the role of a teacher; examining the state's education objectives that influence teachers’ behaviour and experiences; and focusing on the behaviour and experience of teachers at the local level. These three steps constantly merged into one another during the examination of the subject under discussion. The paper recognises that the MLE teachers are not only first-generation teachers, but also first-generation practitioners of MLE, and therefore need to be resourceful and experimental in their classroom practices. However, given the national imperative to achieve universal elementary education by 2015, within the para-teacher framework adopted by the Government of India, the MLE teacher seems to be just a means to an end.

Keywords

multilingual educationmultilingual education teacherpara-teacherquality education
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , December 2014 , pp. 195 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkins, M.J. (1985). Minority community languages: Problems, strategies and issues for teacher educators. British Journal of Educational Studies, 33 (1), 57–69.Google Scholar
Batra, P. (2005). Voice and agency of teachers: Missing link in national curriculum framework. Economic and Political Weekly, 40 (40), 4347–4356.Google Scholar
Bedamatta, U. (2013). Teaching learning materials in a multilingual education programme. Language and Language Teaching, 2 (1), 38–40.Google Scholar
Béteille, A. (1986). The concept of tribe with special reference to India. European Journal of Sociology 27 (2), 296–318.Google Scholar
Béteille, A. (1998). The idea of Indigenous people. Current Anthropology, 39 (2), 187–192.Google Scholar
Colclough, C. (1991). Who should learn to pay? An assessment of neo-liberal approaches to education policy. In Colclough, C. & Manor, J. (Eds.), States or markets? Neo-liberalism and the development policy debate (pp. 193–213). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dalton, E.T. (1872). Descriptive ethnology of Bengal. Calcutta, India: Office of the Superintendent of the Government Printing.Google Scholar
De, A., & Dreze, J. (1999). Public Report on Basic Education in India (PROBE) (Report prepared by the Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Department of Education. (1992). National Policy on Education 1986 (As modified in 1992) with National Policy on Education 1968. New Delhi, India: Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.Google Scholar
Dharampal. (1983). The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous education in the eighteenth century. New Delhi, India: Biblia Impex.Google Scholar
Di Bona, J.E. (1981). Indigenous virtue and foreign vice: Alternative perspectives on colonial education. Comparative Education Review, 25, 202–215.Google Scholar
Di Bona, J. (Ed.). (1983). One teacher one school. New Delhi, India: Biblia Impex.Google Scholar
Dunne, M., Akyeampong, A., & Humphreys, S. (2007). School processes, local governance and community participation: Understanding access (Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity Research Monograph No. 6). Brighton, UK: Centre for International Education, University of Sussex. Retrieved from http://www.create-rpc.org/publications/ptas/Google Scholar
Emeneau, M.B. (1996). Linguistics and Indian tribal languages. In Abbi, A. (Ed.), Languages of tribal and Indigenous peoples of India. The ethnic space (pp. 25–35). New Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.Google Scholar
Government of Orissa. (1994). Tribal Education in Orissa-in the context of education for all by 2000. A status paper. Bhubaneswar, India: Tribal Welfare Department, Government of Orissa.Google Scholar
Govinda, R., & Josephine, Y. (2004). Para-teachers in India: A review. New Delhi, India: National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration.Google Scholar
Hunter, W.W. (1973). The Indian Empire: Its peoples history and products. Delhi: Oriental Publishers.Google Scholar
Jhingran, D. (2005). Language disadvantage: The learning challenge in primary education. New Delhi, India: APH Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Kingdon, G.G., & Sipahimalani-Rao, V. (2010). Para-teachers in India: Status and impact. Economic and Political Weekly, 45 (12), 59–67.Google Scholar
Khora, S. (2005). Continuing low literacy: The case of Orissa. Economic and Political Weekly, 40 (10), 928–930.Google Scholar
Kochhar, S.K. (1967). Methods and techniques of teaching. New Delhi, India: Sterling Publishers.Google Scholar
Kumar, K. (1989). Learning to be backward. Social Character of Learning. New Delhi, India: Sage.Google Scholar
Kumar, K. (1995). Listening to Gandhi (Excerpt from Seminar No. 436, December 1995). Retrieved from http://vidyaonline.net/readings/pr26.htmGoogle Scholar
Kumar, K. (2002). Planned lessons and other problems of teacher training. In Reflections on lesson planning. New Delhi: Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Department of Education, University of Delhi.Google Scholar
Kumar, K. (2005). Political agenda of education. New Delhi, India: Sage.Google Scholar
Kumar, K., Priyam, M., & Saxena, S. (2001). Looking beyond the smokescreen: DPEP and primary education in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 36 (7), 560–568.Google Scholar
Kumar, K., Priyam, M., & Saxena, S. (2001). The trouble with para-teachers. Frontline, 18 (22), 93–94.Google Scholar
Kumar, S. (2010). Report on inclusive classroom, social inclusion/exclusion and diversity: Perspectives, policies and practices. Delhi, India: Deshkal Publication. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/india/13.__National_Report_on_Inclusive_Classroom.pdfGoogle Scholar
Leclercq, F. (2002). The impact of education policy reforms on the education system: A field study of EGS and other primary schools in Madhya Pradesh. Mimeo, Delhi: Centre de Sciences Humaines.Google Scholar
Little, A.W. (2010). Access to elementary education in India: Politics, policies and progress (Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity Research Monograph No. 44). London: The Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/pdf/outputs/impaccess_rpc/pta44.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Education. (1985). The challenge of education: A policy perspective 1985, New Delhi, India: Author.Google Scholar
Ministry of Human Resource Development. (1999). Report of the National Committee of State Education Ministers under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Human Resource Development to Develop the Structure and Outlines of Implementing Universal Elementary Education in a Mission Mode. New Delhi, India: Ministry of Human Resource Development.Google Scholar
Ministry of Tribal Affairs. (2006) Draft National Policy on Tribals. Delhi, India: Author. Retrieved from http://www.hrdiap.gov.in/87fc/policies/NATIONAL%20POLICY%20ON%20TRIBALS.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Tribal Affairs. (n.d.). Scheduled Tribes: Introduction. Retrieved from http://tribal.nic.in/Content/IntroductionScheduledTribes.aspxGoogle Scholar
Naik, J.P. (1979). Equality, quality and quantity: The elusive triangle in Indian education. International Review of Education, 25 (2/3), 167–185. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3443729Google Scholar
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). (2005). National Curriculum Framework. New Delhi: Author.Google Scholar
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). (2011). Programme evaluation report: Multilingual education in Orissa. New Delhi: Author.Google Scholar
Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA). (2007). Rupantar. Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Author.Google Scholar
Panda, M., & Mohanty, A.K. (2009). Language matters, so does culture: Beyond the rhetoric of culture in multilingual education. In Panda, M. & Mohanty, A.K. (Eds.), Multilingual education for social justice: Globalising the local (pp. 295–312). New Delhi, India: Orient Blackswan.Google Scholar
Pandey, S. (2006). Para-teacher scheme and quality education for all in India: Policy perspectives and challenges for school effectiveness. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 32 (3), 319–334.Google Scholar
Pati, B. (2001). Situating social history: Orissa (1800–1997). Hyderabad: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Pati, B., & Nanda, C.P. (2009). The leprosy patient and society: Colonial Orissa, 1870s–1940s. In Pati, B. & Harrison, M. (Eds.), The social history of health and medicine in colonial India (pp. 113–128). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Patnaik, N. (1989). The Juang. Bhubaneswar, India: Tribal and Harijan Research-cum-training Institute.Google Scholar
Prakash, V. (Ed.). (1993). Towards enhancing quality of primary education: Minimum levels of learning approach. In School education in rural India (pp. 3–17). New Delhi, India: Mittal Publications.Google Scholar
Prakasha, V. (1985). Gandhian basic education as a program of interdisciplinary instruction at the elementary stage: Some lessons of experience. Child, Family, Community. Special UPEL Issue No. 2. Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/United Nations Children's Fund Programme of Educational Assistance.Google Scholar
Practichi Trust. (2002). The state of primary education in Jharkhand. Delhi, India: Author. Retrieved from http://pratichi.org/sites/default/files/Pratichi_Education_Report_on_Jharkhand.pdfGoogle Scholar
Pattanayak, D.P. (2007). Bhasha Padakare Kete Katha [So much in such few words!]. In Rupantar (p. 48). Bhubaneswar, India: OPEPA.Google Scholar
Pritchett, L., & Murgai, R. (2008). Teacher compensation: Can decentralisation to local bodies take India from perfect storm through troubled waters to clear sailing? Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Pritchett, L., & Pande, V. (2006). Making primary education work for India's rural poor: A proposal for effective decentralisation (Social Development Papers, South Asia series). Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Ramachandran, V. (2008). What is ‘para’ about some teachers? (Unpublished manuscript.)Google Scholar
Ramachandran, V., Pal, M., Jain, S., Shekar, S., & Sharma, J. (2005). Teacher motivation in India. Brighton, UK: United Kingdom Department for International Development.Google Scholar
Rath, B. (2005). Vulnerable tribal livelihood and shifting cultivation: The situation in Orissa with a case study in the Bhuyan-Juang Pirh of Keonjhar district. Bhubaneswar, India: Vasundhara.Google Scholar
Rath, G.C. (Ed.). (2006). Tribal development in India: The contemporary debate. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Sadgopal, A. (2003). Education for too few. Frontline, 20 (24), 97–100.Google Scholar
Sri Aurobindo. (1972). The life divine, 19-II. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.Google Scholar
Steele, C.M., Spencer, S.J., & Aronson, J. (2002). Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. Advances in Experimental Psychology, 34, 379–440.Google Scholar
Vivekananda, Swami. (2005). The complete works of Swami Vivekananda: Volume 4. Vedanta Press. Retrieved from http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/complete_works.htmGoogle Scholar
Tooley, J. (2009). The Beautiful Tree: A personal journey into how the world's poorest people are education themselves. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.Google Scholar
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2009). Interactive atlas of the world's languages in danger. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/cultureGoogle Scholar
Van de Craen, P., & Perez-Vidal, C. (2003). The education of teachers for multilingual schools in Europe. Introducing ALPME: An advanced level programme for multilingual education. European Language Council. Retrieved from http://www.celelc.org/archive/Information_Bulletins/00_resources_info_bulletins/2003_IB/vdc_en.pdf?1370253493Google Scholar
Welmond, M. (2002). Globalization viewed from the periphery: The dynamics of teacher identity in the Republic of Benin. Comparative Education Review, 46 (1), 37–65.Google Scholar
Xaxa, V. (1999). Tribes as Indigenous people of India. Economic and Political Weekly 34 (51), 3589–3595.Google Scholar
Zastoupil, L., & Moir, M. (Eds.). (1999). Document Fourteen. (Minute recorded in the General Department by Thomas Babington Macaulay, law member of the Governor-General's council, 2 February 1835). In The Great Indian Education Debate: Documents relating to the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, 1781–1843 (pp. 161–173). Surrey, UK: Curzon Press.Google Scholar