What we know A strategy of MLE beginning with mother-tongue produces both better learning and makes education systems more efficient and effective – higher enrolment, less repetition, lower drop-out rates, higher achievement – and therefore SAVES MONEY! Education for All can only be achieved with a strategy of mother tongue-based MLE – without it, too many children will not enter school, will fail, and will drop out – or be pushed out -- of the education system (1,000,000 children out of school in 2007).

What we know Diversity is a treasure -- not only to be “tolerated” or “respected” but welcomed and celebrated. Diversity is preserved by literacy both in indigenous, minority languages and in the national language. Literacy in the mother tongue is an effective and efficient approach to learning to read and write in the national language. Literacy in both indigenous languages and the national language will help integrate and strengthen society -- economically, socially, politically, culturally – not tear it apart.

What we know Through greater integration, excluded indigenous communities can contribute more to economic and social development. Local communities need to play an important role in the management of their schools and the selection of the content and methods of instruction. Cultural methods of transmitting knowledge to children (traditional pedagogy) should also be adapted for the classroom.

What we know But there are practical difficulties, too… MTB-MLE requires special skills for teachers – not only in the language (“working fluency”) but also in combining it with L2 and in bridging successfully to mastery of L2. ALL practicing teachers and teacher trainees therefore need to learn these skills. Special approaches must be developed for classrooms with more than one mother tongue (e.g., schools/grades/classrooms assigned by language, teaching assistants from each language, selecting the most used L2)

What we know The early years of primary school are the most important; if children are not literate by the end of grade 2, they will likely drop out or learn little. Good teaching, in mother tongue, and intensive remediation for slow readers are therefore essential. But which grade has the most pupils? Which grade has the youngest, least experienced teacher? Which grade has the fewest hours of teaching each week? In many countries, it is grade 1. And in the Philippines?

What we know MLE is essential to achieve education which is truly “inclusive” – but language is only one of many barriers to enrolment and success in school. A good education system and a good teacher “include” not only speakers of many languages but also children of the very poor, children with disabilities, street children and working children, children in remote areas, and girls AND boys equally. All teachers must therefore become “inclusive” educators, welcoming diversity and using it to enrich the education the provide.