The Bangladesh Initiative of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: Exploring the Significance, Challenges, and Way Forwards

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is increasingly recognized as a vital approach to fostering inclusive and equitable education, particularly for ethnolinguistic minority communities. It emphasizes using a child’s mother tongue as the primary medium of instruction, gradually introducing additional languages. UNESCO (2024) indicates that education in a child’s first language enhances comprehension, retention, and overall academic performance. SIL Global (2024) stated that this approach to education fosters cultural identity and promotes social inclusion among marginalized groups Globally, initiatives promoting MTB-MLE have gained strong ground, with organizations such as UNESCO advocating for its adoption to improve educational outcomes and preserve cultural heritage. Bangladesh Government also adopted MTB-MLE in 2012 and introduced this education program for its Indigenous ethnic minority communities in 2017 on a pilot basis. So far, this program has been implemented in five languages- Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Garo, and Santal- by handing over one additional subject to the Indigenous learners in their respective ethnic languages. The Bangladesh initiative created a sense of optimism and enthusiasm among the Indigenous communities in Bangladesh. Thus, the initiatives gained significant progress starting from zero point to textbook development and implementation of the textbooks in some local schools. This initiative is expected to preserve and develop Indigenous languages, literature, cultures, heritage, and ethnic pride.