UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team has reported that a staggering forty per cent of the world’s population does not have access to education in a language they speak or understand.
Despite an increasing awareness of the role of home language in education, policy adoption remains inadequate due to implementation challenges such as limited teacher capacity, lack of learning materials, and societal resistance, the report notes.
In certain low- and middle-income countries, this figure rises sharply to 90 per cent, affecting more than 250 million learners.
The GEM officials have urged governments to implement multilingual education policies to ensure inclusive learning environments that benefit all students.
The findings have been published in a report titled Languages Matter: Global Guidance on Multilingual Education, marking the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day.
The report highlights the growing linguistic diversity in classrooms due to migration, highlighting that over 31 million displaced youth worldwide face significant language barriers in education.
The report coincides with India’s ongoing implementation of its new National Education Policy (NEP), which promotes multilingual education. The policy’s three-language formula, however, has faced opposition in certain states.
A senior member of the GEM team asserted, “Today, 40 per cent of people globally lack access to education in the language they speak and understand fluently. In some low- and middle-income countries, this figure rises to 90 per cent. More than a quarter of a billion learners are affected.”
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Highlighting the impact of linguistic disadvantages, the official noted that disparities in learning outcomes have worsened over the past decade.
“The first thing to note is that over the course of this decade, which has been marked by the pervasive influence of technology in young people’s lives but also by the impact of COVID-19, learning levels have dropped sharply in both reading and mathematics. But the next thing to note is that the impact has been disproportionate on learners who are disadvantaged due to linguistic reasons,” the official stated.
The analysis by the GEM team reveals that between 2010 and 2022, the learning gap between native speakers and those studying in an unfamiliar language widened—from 12 to 18 percentage points in reading and from 10 to 15 percentage points in mathematics.
This suggests that learners who do not speak the language of instruction at home, either due to historical impositions or migration, face greater risks of learning loss.
“Countries face diverse linguistic challenges in education, stemming from both historical and contemporary factors,” the report states.
“In the first category, often as a legacy of colonialism, languages have been imposed on local populations, preventing their use in instruction and creating educational disparities.
In the second category, immigration brings new languages into classrooms, enriching linguistic diversity but also presenting challenges in instruction and assessment.”
The GEM team has recommended that educational language policies adopt context-specific approaches, ensuring that language transitions in education are supported by curriculum adjustments and appropriate teaching materials.
“In countries with significant immigrant populations, policies should support the development and implementation of effective bridging language programmes, qualified teachers, and inclusive learning environments that cater to diverse linguistic needs,” the report advises.
For multilingual contexts, the report suggests that teacher training programmes must ensure proficiency in both home and second languages.
Furthermore, teachers should be deployed to match their language fluency with that of their assigned schools. It also recommends that early childhood educators be trained in culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy.
The report emphasises the need for strong support systems outside schools to ensure the success of multilingual education policies.
Additionally, it calls for empowering school leaders to foster inclusion within their institutions.
“Countries should ensure that the selection, recruitment, and training of school leaders includes a focus on fostering inclusion in schools, particularly for multilingual students. School leader professional standards should stress the importance of collaboration between educators, parents, and the wider community to bridge linguistic gaps,” the report states.
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