Impact of Minorities Language Rights upon their education - Essay Example

? Impact of Minorities’ Language Rights upon their education Introduction In every society of the world there exists some level of linguistic diversity. Even the countries with single national language like Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Nigeria etc. are also home of significant numbers of language minorities (Tomasevski, 1996, p117). The provision of linguistic rights of the minority groups is an enduring and important issue because it is among the human important human right of the minorities to have a form of speech in use that they could also understand and speak. In the absence of any other language from the national language, the minorities will obviously face the problems in communicating with the people around them and each and every facet of their life would be badly affected (Thornberry, 1997, 307). The minority language rights not allow make communication easy for the minorities but the significant impacts of language rights of minorities could be traced in the field of education as well (Dunbar, 2001, p120). The essay aims to discuss the effects of language rights upon the education of the minorities and discusses the critical importance of have language rights of the minorities in the society. It has been unveiled from the review of the literature concerning the topic that the importance of granting language rights to the minorities has been realized in most of the countries of the world and this realization and provision of the rights have drawn significant and strong impacts upon the educational achievement levels of the people of the minority groups. Language Rights of Minorities The countries with multi-ethnic and multicultural population are critically need to implement the laws safeguarding the rights of the minorities because the absence of these rights in such countries could led towards satisfaction among the masses they might led towards social instability. The issue of language rights of the minorities is often viewed in informal and non-state contexts but the issue has been given importance in most of the public institutions that are forced to serve a linguistically diverse citizenry. The language rights of the minorities determine what style, tone and practice of language would be adopted by the public institutions that they could fulfil the requirements of the minorities as well (Tomasevski, 1996, p117). The growing trend of multicultural awareness in the wake of globalization has compelled the countries to think weather or not they should adopt policy of institutional mono-language where only one language dominantly used in the country will be used for communicating with the masses. Many countries now prefer to adopt institutional multilingualism that could not only serve the people of their own country but the minority people could not be able to understand and speak their concerns in the public institutions and places (Baderin, 2005, p15). This is very important for the countries to facilitate the people of other languages and nationality they mostly live in their countries for business or any other work related purpose. In the absence of the language rights, the minority language speakers could never have morally serious complaint about the system of the country and they will not be able to adjust at such places because all of their activities and lifestyle could be badly affected in the absence of language rights (Thornberry, 1997, 307). The neglect of these rights could also lead towards inter communal tension and such society could also be marked with the violation of basic human rights like giving freedom of speech and communication to all of the people of the society (Dunbar, 2001, p120). The language rights for the dominant language speakers exist for centuries and they have been taken for granted because these rights are allotted to them without calling them language rights. Likewise, in many countries the minority language speakers also have certain rights that are legally formulized to determine the dimension of usability of their language for different purposes. however, over the last few decades there is strong wave of awareness among the policy makers, social scientists as well as among the masses that call for the provision of adequate language rights to the minorities so that they could also be able to carry on their social lives in the same manner as the people of dominating language use to do in the country (Tomasevski, 1996, p117). The language rights fort the minorities are very important from the perspective of education as well and it has been unveiled that the minority language education is essential in the countries in order to protect the language rights and for maintaining languages. In the linguistically diverse countries where there is acceptance of the language rights of the minorities, the education system in is usually based upon bilingualism. The students are provided with the instructions in two dominating languages so that they could understand the instruction in any of those languages and could become able to carry on their education in adequate manner (Clapham, 2004, p213). Minority Language Rights and Education In the Human Development report 2004, United Nation has affirmed that the language rights are strongly linked with the cultural liberty and it is very essential to provide these rights of the minorities in order to support the human development. The use of national language without giving importance to the rights of the minorities affirm that the abilities of the people of the minority group to use their own language have been limited because they are provided with limited facilities in speaking their native language. This not only excludes from them from getting justice and enjoying social and political life but also prevent them from getting education adequately (Steiner, et al, 2010, p134). The experts widely believe that the countries must implement the bilingualism in the education system in order to assure the provision of adequate opportunities to the minority language education that is basic right of the minorities. The education must be provided to the people of all the communities without prejudice to the learning of the official language of that country or to being education in that language only (Harris, 1998, 173). The policy makers have also widely stressed upon the need of providing high quality education in different languages for the dominating group as well as for the minorities. in the countries, there the minorities mostly belong to lower economic class the issue of language rights became even more critical because lack of understanding of the local language keep them excluded from the essential aspects of the community life and they became unable to maintain their lifestyles up to certain standards when they are not provided with the education in their language (Dunbar, 2001, p120). The absence of the language rights could keep the minorities away from some aspects of the community life and the education is most important area where they essentially need right of minority language. The economic and social growth of the countries is also affected due to lack of use of minority language in the field of education because the minorities could not get adequate education their role in the practical career life also became limited (Clapham, 2004, p213). For instance, in the sun Saharan Africa people used to speak and understand around 250 different languages but the education system did not address any of the leading minority language due to which the people are widely unable to use their own education for the education purpose. At the same time, they are not able to deal with the state on certain important matters because they could not understand the official language of the country and the government pays little attention towards providing information and instruction to the people in different languages so that they could easily understand the message and instructions (Hoppers, 2007, p38). The language rights of the minority are also very important from the educational point of view because in the absence of minority language education the parents could not be able to transmit their own language to their children as they have to focus more towards teaching them the dominating language of the country (Steiner, et al, 2010, p134). In this process, they have to sacrifice their native language to make their children more familiar with the dominating language. As a result there is a fear that the world spoken languages would be disappearing fast and all the people of the word would be using the dominating or official languages of their country. This is a great point of worry for the educationalists as well as for the social scientists because lack of language rights in education field also contributes towards the decline of certain languages and the cultural heritage of the nations would also be badly affected from this trend (Thornberry, 1997, 307). Impact upon Education It is very important point to notice that in over 30 countries of the world the commonly used language is different from the official language and in such cases the children of these countries are also prevented from gaining access to the educational material. According to the estimates only 13 per cent of the children receive the primary education in their native language and the rest of the children have been given little access of the education due to their inability to understand the official language of the country (Steiner, et al, 2010, p134). In this situation the future of these countries could be viewed in extreme danger because they are preparing a generation where most of the people would not be adequately education and their capabilities to participate in the national development process would also be limited due to lack of understanding of the official language. The language rights of minorities have an important role to play in the field of education as it has been found that language laws have great implications and roots inside the educational system and processes (Baderin, 2005, p15). The only positive solution to the problem is the implementation of the language rights of the minorities because this is the only way through which the minorities could also be able to get access to the educational material in their native language and ultimately their educational qualifications could also be increased (Smith, 1999, p98). It is also suggested in the report prepared by United Nation that most of the countries critically need formulating the three-language formula in order to assure that maximum number of people especially children have access to education (Mower, 1997, p73). The three languages proposed in this formula include the national or official language of the country, a lingua franca that could be used to facilitate the communication process among different groups and the officially recognized mother language or the indigenous language so that people unable to understand the official and lingua franca could be able to use their mother tongue for getting education (Kontra, et al, 1999, p94). The official language and lingua franca allows the children to get education and become fully competent in one of the two languages that are widely used for the communication in their country. The mother tongue based education is based upon the deficiency theory and intends to support the rights of the indigenous and minority group of people in the field of education. The mother tongue appears to be necessary in the education system however at the same time it also prevents the children from learning the dominating language of the country and their linguistic skills might remain limited due to lack of understanding the dominating or official language of their country and the children also remain indifferent with the official language of the country that is also a deficiency among them (Provost, 2002, p165). The language rights of the minorities have very obvious impacts upon the education of the minority groups. Most of these impacts could be viewed very positive because the language rights allow the children of the minority groups getting education in their own language alongside understanding the dominating language (Alston, 1999, p83). The children of the minority linguistic group not only became able to preserve their own language but they also get the opportunity of understanding and using another language dominantly spoken in the country. In this way their linguistic capabilities are enhanced and they become able to communicate and interact with many people either belonging to the minority or dominating language group of the country. The language rights facilitate the learning process of the individuals during different stages of education and learning (Fife, 2005, p325). The educational process of minorities is enhanced through the provision of the language rights because these rights allow them setting up their private schools where they can keep their native language as the major medium of education however, the minorities often face difficulties in managing the funds for meeting the complete expenses of the private schools. those who can afford commonly use to form and run their schools where they use the native language as the major means of communication and instruction and along with the native language they also make people learn the official language but the medium of instructions generally remains the native language due to which it became easy for the students to learn official language in their native language setting (Fife, 2005, p325). During the early phase of education, the children are greatly benefited from the language rights of the minorities. Most of the children receive their formal education at the early stage in the schools. The language used in the schools matter a lot for these children because if alien language is used for educating these beginners they won’t be able to properly get the formal education. If the parents and teachers will work out on the children to make them familiar with the official language then the children have to leave the use of their native language. In this situation, the education of the minorities is enhanced because gradually they will become able to understand and use the dominating language but all this occurs at the cost of the native or mother tongue of these children (Smith, 1999, p98). The language rights of the minorities in education helps preserving the native languages because the negligence of native languages of the minorities has been widely regarded as the cultural genocide of the minority communities. The language rights in the field of education support the survival of the mother tongues of the minorities and along with learning the official and dominating language of the country they also became able to preserve their own language. though the use of the mother tongue remain limited in the educational and later in the working life of the minorities but still they become able to keep their own language with them and their coming generations could also get access and understanding of the cultural roots of their ancestors by knowing their native languages (Alston, 1999, p83). The language rights act as guarding shield for the minorities because these rights make sure that at educational level there would be no discrimination with the minorities on the basis of their language (Kontra, et al, 1999, p94). The language rights also invoke the sense among the minorities that their own language also has an importance in the society and they could use their educational institutions for the promotion and preservation of their language. as a result of implementation of the language rights, it is expected that the decline of the native languages all over the globe would be significantly reduced and the people would be able to enter their professional lives with their native and official language because during their educational careers they would be provided with the facility of understanding and speaking both the languages (Smith, 1999, p98). The language rights facilitated and enhanced the educational process because it is a natural phenomenon that the children want to get education especially early days education in their native languages. This is because they get sense of belongingness and familiarity with their own language and things they are taught in their own language seems easy for them. However, at the same time children often have great interest in learning the official or dominating language of the country (Provost, 2002, p165). The language rights fulfil both type of these requirements because they not only allow learning in own language but the students are also taught in the official language. The most important thing to assure in this scenario is that children must be put on learning a new language but not at the cost of their mother tongue. The education system should be built in a way that it will not only provide instructions and learning information in official language but also uses the native language to make the things easier for the children and students (Kontra, et al, 1999, p94). Conclusion The above discussion provides an insight over the role of language rights on minorities in the field of education and enhancement of their educational performances and achievement. It has been unveiled from the above discussion that the language rights of minority possess very critical importance in the social setting where different ethnic and cultural groups live together. The language rights assure the social, political and educational wellbeing of the people and it is imperative that the minorities must be provided with their language rights so that their children and students could easily get access to the educational facilities in the country. The language rights allow establishing separate private schools for the minorities that is an important and positive development in the field of minority language education and through this step also the minority education was boost up in many countries of the world. It has been unveiled from the above discussion that the language rights of the minorities possess great importance from educational point of view because when the children and students are provided with the opportunity of studying official language along with their own native language, it became easy for them to understand the instructions and learning process. At the same time they also become competent in two or more languages that contributed towards their enhanced skills and linguistic capabilities. Thus, the entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that language rights are critical for assuring the standard of education of minorities. Moreover, the language rights in education assure that the minorities would also be able to preserve their own language along with studying in official or dominating language of the country. References Alston, P. (1999). The EU and Human Rights, Oxford: OUP Dunbar, R. (2001). Minority Language Rights in International Law, International and Comparative Law Quarterly 50, 90-120 Clapham, A. (2004). Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors, 2006, Oxford: OUP. Baderin, M. (2005). International Human Rights and Islamic law, 2005, Oxford: OUP. Fife, J. (2005). The Legal Framework for Indigenous Language Rights in the United States, Willamette Law Review 41(2), 325-371 Harris, D. (1998). The Inter-American System of Human Rights, 1998, Oxford: Clarendon Press Hoppers, C. A. (2007). Indigenous Knowledge and the Integration of Knowledge Systems. Towards a Philosophy of Articulation, Claremont, New Africa Books, 23-38 Kontra, M., Phillipson, R., Skutnabb-Kangas, T. and Varady, T. (1999). Language: a Right and a Resource. Approaching Linguistic Human Rights, Budapest, Central European University Press Mower, A. (1997). The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press Provost, R. (2002). 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