Language Education Policy Analysis

𝐈𝐟 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬, 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐎 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲. After spending time with the 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢 2025: 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, one thing becomes unmistakably clear: this is not a report for language specialists alone. It is a report about how education systems quietly succeed or collapse. The report makes a simple but unsettling point. Nearly half of India’s children enter school in a language they do not speak at home. This is a significant pedagogic problem. It shapes comprehension, confidence, participation, retention, and dignity from the very first year of schooling. When children cannot think in the language of instruction, schooling becomes an act of endurance rather than learning. What makes this report critical is that it refuses to treat language as a technical choice of medium. Language here is shown as cognition, identity, social power, and justice. It draws together evidence from ASER, UDISE+, NCERT assessments, and deep field-based case studies from tribal, rural, and multilingual classrooms to show how early language mismatch produces long-term learning inequality. For anyone working in education, regardless of role, this report matters. If you are a teacher, it explains why classroom participation, silence, or “low ability” often have little to do with intelligence and everything to do with language distance. If you work in teacher education, it exposes how poorly prepared our systems are for multilingual classrooms, despite policy rhetoric. If you design curriculum or assessments, it shows how monolingual assumptions distort learning measurement and progression. If you work in EdTech or digital learning, it offers a sobering reminder that technology without linguistic inclusion simply scales exclusion. If you are a policymaker, administrator, or funder, it makes clear that multilingual education is not a cultural add-on but a structural requirement for foundational learning, equity, and retention. The report is especially strong on tribal and Indigenous education. It documents how mother-tongue-based multilingual education, when done with continuity and seriousness, improves learning outcomes, strengthens community trust, and keeps children in school. Odisha’s long-running MTB-MLE programme and examples from the North East show that this is not theoretical. It is workable, if systems choose to invest. Perhaps most importantly, the report asks uncomfortable questions about governance, financing, teacher deployment, institutional coordination, and political will. #MultilingualEducation #MotherTongueMatters #FoundationalLearning #EducationalEquity #TeacherEducation #LanguageAndLearning #UNESCO #NEP2020 #EducationPolicy

I’ve been reflecting on the proposed FY27 federal budget and what it signals for language education. This recent analysis from the Language Policy Institute outlines a continued reduction in support for language education priorities at the federal level. At a high level, it reflects a pattern of reduced investment in programs that support multilingual learners, bilingual education, and educator pipelines. This is not just about budget lines. It is about system capacity. Denver Public Schools, like many districts across the country is serving growing numbers of multilingual and newcomer students. At the same time, the supports that have historically helped us meet those needs are being reduced or consolidated in ways that weaken their impact. We have all heard it before, “that is what we have always done.” That approach does not hold when student needs are changing as quickly as they are now. I have had the opportunity to visit schools in Singapore, Finland, Shanghai, Switzerland, and South Korea, systems that consistently perform at high levels, battling for OECD - OCDE's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) top spots. One consistent takeaway is a clear and intentional focus on language and cultural competence. In each of these places, students spoke with me in English, while also being fully proficient in their native language and often learning a third. That did not happen by chance. It reflects deliberate design and sustained investment. Re: PISA, we sit comfortably in the middle of the pack. Why? Several reasons but I can say one is that we have not approached language in the same way. There is not a single solution to improving outcomes at scale, but language is a significant lever we have not fully developed. We know bilingualism supports academic growth and long-term opportunity. We also know that when federal support decreases, the responsibility shifts to local systems already managing competing priorities. So the question becomes practical. How do we continue to build systems that meet the needs of multilingual learners, even as resources become less targeted? That is where the real work is. And we know that when federal support recedes, the burden shifts to local systems already navigating complex fiscal realities. So the question for all of us in education leadership is this: Will we absorb these changes quietly, or will we advocate for what our students actually need to thrive? Because this moment is not just about budgets. It’s about whether we are willing to align our resources with our values. https://lnkd.in/gUVNh2kV

I am very proud of this paper. Takiko Igarashi, Sandy Maulana, and I grappled with it for over two years, learning so much along the way. We gave it our best shot given the data limitations, and the results were rigorous enough to be published in Labour Economics. The findings are policy-relevant as many countries are considering multilingual education. We evaluate the impact of the multilingual education policy in the Philippines on foundational skills. We find that the policy reduced the mean linguistic distance between children's mother tongue and school language of instruction by between 43% to 76%. However, we find a statistically significant and negative effect on foundational reading skills. The magnitude is not negligible, given the Philippines’ flat learning profiles. We find the policy also negatively impacted the foundational mathematics skills of the first cohort fully exposed to the policy. Our findings imply that governments need to reconsider the mother tongue-based education policy as a tool to improve foundational skills in a diverse society. The full-text is open access at https://lnkd.in/gpFMKqSs

It’s International #MotherLanguageDay.      Strong #FoundationalLearning programs guarantee that every child has learning materials in their hands that are high quality and language appropriate. As language policies evolve across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, many countries are examining how dual language programs play a crucial role to improve foundational skills for students.      How does a policymaker, education leader, or implementer approach complex language issues? The #ScienceofTeaching site provides a roadmap to navigate language of instruction options: https://lnkd.in/dT4q42aT.      Key steps to make context-appropriate design choices for foundational learning include:  1️⃣ Know the context: Understand the linguistic demographics by investigating the languages spoken by teachers, students, and communities  2️⃣ Build consensus: Engage with stakeholders’ concerns at both the national and local levels to build support 3️⃣ Design the program: Make decisions about the number and type of language used, and include plans for quality teaching and learning materials    4️⃣ Plan for continued engagement: Establish sustained consensus-building as circumstances change over time  

In the past few weeks, Nigeria and Ghana have both stood at similar crossroads and chosen two completely different futures. On October 24th, Ghana's government announced that teaching in local languages is now compulsory in all basic schools, saying, "The Ghanaian child... deserves to learn in the language they understand.” Just two weeks later, on November 12th, Nigeria's government did the exact opposite. The Minister of Education announced they have reversed the 2022 policy on mother-tongue education citing poor performance and “evidence-based policy” as the reason for the reversal. English is now the only language of instruction, from primary through tertiary level. The real question for those of us interested in the education sector is why this happened and what it signals about the kind of future we’re building. Are we prioritizing global competitiveness at the expense of cultural identity? Or are we avoiding the harder work of strengthening local-language capacity, teacher training, and curriculum development? Whatever the answer, this decision will shape how young ones (especially those in indigenous communities) learn, think, and see themselves. If you’re curious to understand this shift better, I did a five-minute video deep dive comparing Nigeria’s approach with Ghana, Ireland and Wales. Ireland and Wales are two countries who have stood on the opposite sides of this kind of policy, with Ireland now doubling down on preserving her language while modernizing education. If you’re interested, check it out. Link is in the comments. #olufolakezion #policy #education

There’s been a lot of debate about the recent directive from the Ghana Education Service (GES) that pupils from nursery to Primary 3 should be taught in their mother tongue. Here’s my take: This is not a new idea. It’s not a trend. And it’s certainly not a knee-jerk decision. During my National Service, I worked with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the USAID-funded EQUALL Project, which supported the rollout of the National Literacy Acceleration Program (NALAP). That experience gave me a front-row seat to how this policy was born — through years of research, field studies, and collaboration between educators, linguists, and development partners. The evidence was clear then, and it’s clear now: 👉🏾 Children learn faster, retain better, and build stronger literacy foundations when they’re taught first in a language they understand. When we insist on English before comprehension, we set both the learner and the teacher up for frustration. I saw this firsthand — and I’ll never forget watching pupils light up as they grasped new ideas in their home language for the first time. It wasn’t just academic progress; it was confidence, identity, and pride coming alive in real time. I also had the privilege of co-authoring one of the NALAP textbooks ("Efua Is Too Small) that was later translated into multiple Ghanaian languages. Seeing that work come to life reaffirmed a simple truth: language is not just a tool for learning, it’s a bridge between who we are and what we can become. So, before we dismiss this directive, let’s remember that it’s grounded in evidence and national experience. It’s not an experiment; it’s a return to what works. That said, I do believe the Ministry of Education could help the public understand such policies better by pairing announcements with strong, accessible communication, explaining why these decisions matter for our children’s growth. And finally, context matters. In urban centres where English has become a first language for many families, the policy must adapt to reflect that diversity too. Still, this is a step in the right direction, one that honours our children’s roots while empowering their minds. 📸 Michael Dakwa Shoes by Love Ankara #InclusiveEducation #MotherTongueMatters #LanguageAndLearning #EducatingTheNextAfricanGeneration

Few weeks ago, the Nigeria Minister of Education Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa made an overhaul of an education policy which had the potential of improving foundational literacy and numeracy. The decision to cancel mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary school might be one that wasn’t thought through. In recent times, there are evidence that show that using mother tongue as a medium of instruction has the ability to improve educational outcomes. I wrote this open letter to the Honorable Minister based on my experience not just as a trained education policy professional but as a ten years old student who was taught basic principles of mathematics in her mother tongue. Education policies should not be passed or expunged at face value. It is an important decision that determines the future of education. https://lnkd.in/e4AXAyKt