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 A child's native tongue should not be given a short shrift during his 
or her pre-primary years as local language is the most important tool 
for understanding basic concepts in that period, an academic said on 
Thursday. </h2></div><div class="gmail-ins_dateline"><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/education">Education</a> | <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/topic/indo-asian-news-service"><span><span>Indo-Asian News Service</span></span></a>   | <span>Updated: December 14, 2017 21:45 IST</span></div><div class="gmail-googletextad gmail-marginb20 gmail-clr"><div id="gmail-googlead" class="gmail-googlead"><div style="display:block" id="gmail-google_ads_bar"><div id="gmail-taboola-above-article-text-links" class="gmail-trc_related_container gmail-trc_spotlight_widget gmail-trc_tl gmail-trc_tl_responsive gmail-trc_tl_responsive_trc_94796"><div class="gmail-trc_rbox_container" style="display:block"><div><div id="gmail-trc_wrapper_94796" class="gmail-trc_rbox gmail-text-links-b gmail-trc-content-sponsored" style="overflow:hidden;display:block"><div id="gmail-trc_header_94796" class="gmail-trc_rbox_header gmail-trc_rbox_border_elm"><div class="gmail-trc_header_ext"><div class="gmail-logoDiv gmail-link-adc"><a class="gmail-trc_desktop_adc_link gmail-trc_attribution_position_top" rel="nofollow" href="https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=text-links-b:Above Article Text Links - NDTV:" target="_blank"><span class="gmail-trc_adc_wrapper"><span class="gmail-trc_adc_s_logo"></span> </span><span class="gmail-trc_logos_v_align"> </span></a></div><div class="gmail-logoDiv gmail-link-attribution"><a class="gmail-trc_desktop_attribution_link gmail-trc_attribution_position_top" rel="nofollow" href="https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=text-links-b:Above Article Text Links - NDTV:" target="_blank"><span>by Taboola</span><span class="gmail-trc_logos_v_align"> </span></a></div><div class="gmail-logoDiv gmail-link-disclosure gmail-attribution-disclosure-link-sponsored"><a class="gmail-trc_desktop_disclosure_link gmail-trc_attribution_position_top" rel="nofollow" href="https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=text-links-b:Above Article Text Links - NDTV:" target="_blank"><span>Sponsored Links</span><span class="gmail-trc_logos_v_align"> </span></a></div></div><span class="gmail-trc_rbox_header_span">Sponsored</span></div><div id="gmail-outer_94796" class="gmail-trc_rbox_outer" style="overflow:hidden"><div id="gmail-rbox-t2m" class="gmail-trc_rbox_div gmail-trc_rbox_border_elm" style="overflow:hidden"><div id="gmail-internal_trc_94796" style="width:auto"><div class="gmail-videoCube gmail-trc_spotlight_item gmail-origin-default gmail-thumbnail_none gmail-syndicatedItem gmail-textItem gmail-videoCube_1_child gmail-trc-first-recommendation gmail-trc-spotlight-first-recommendation"><a title="10 New Cars We Are Super Excited About" href="http://insight.adsrvr.org/track/clk?imp=23666ca7-7c5c-4139-a6ed-5db87dcff7cd&ag=uplr99s&sfe=c6b9940&sig=ax3K6HnVodF49uyVHGLZfh2fUE8u2IUU0bFGjPvs4gY.&crid=27x7s5u1&cf=210630&fq=0&td_s=www.ndtv.com&rcats=&mcat=&mste=&mfld=4&mssi=&mfsi=zz9btnm0se&sv=taboola&uhow=133&agsa=&rgco=United%20States&rgre=New%20Jersey&rgme=504&rgci=Haddonfield&rgz=08033&dt=PC&osf=Windows&os=Windows10&br=Firefox&svpid=1006557&rlangs=01&mlang=&did=&rcxt=Other&tmpc=-3.17&vrtd=&osi=&osv=&daid=&dnr=0&vpb=&svsc=&dur=&crrelr=&npt=&svscid=386873514&mdl=Firefox%20-%20Windows&adpt=tb_ltaboola&atst=1&r=https://www.kbb.com/car-reviews-and-news/top-10/coolest-cars-under-25000/2100003949/?psid=20174&siomid=TTD00001" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="gmail-item-label-href"><span style="display:block" class="gmail-video-label-box"><span class="gmail-video-label gmail-video-title" style="display:inline">10 New Cars We Are Super Excited About<span class="gmail-trc_inline_detail_spacer"> </span><span class="gmail-branding" style="display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle">(KBB)</span></span></span></a></div><div class="gmail-videoCube gmail-trc_spotlight_item gmail-origin-default gmail-thumbnail_none gmail-syndicatedItem gmail-textItem gmail-videoCube_2_child"><a title="Casinos Don't Expect You To Do This, But They Can't Stop You" href="https://win.bonusseeker.com/how-you-could-become-a-slots-millionaire?utm_campaign=become-a-millionaire-ron-11-27-desktop&utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=native&utm_content=cant-stop-bands_diamonds&utm_term=ndtv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="gmail-item-label-href"><span style="display:block" class="gmail-video-label-box"><span class="gmail-video-label gmail-video-title" style="display:inline">Casinos Don't Expect You To Do This, But They Can't Stop You<span class="gmail-trc_inline_detail_spacer"> </span><span class="gmail-branding" style="display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle">(Bonus Seeker)</span></span></span></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-st_story_topshare"><div class="gmail-st_sharebar_new"><div class="gmail-st_sharebar_left"><div class="gmail-total_count"> 1<span>Share</span></div></div><div class="gmail-st_sharebar_right"><div class="gmail-n_email"><b>EMAIL</b></div><div class="gmail-n_print"><b>PRINT</b></div><div class="gmail-n_comments"><b>COMMENTS</b></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-ins_mainimage_big gmail-story_pic"><img title="Native Tongue Should Be Included In Early Schooling: Academics" alt="Native Tongue Should Be Included In Early Schooling: Academics" id="gmail-story_image_main" src="https://i.ndtvimg.com/i/2017-02/nursery_650x400_61486799132.jpg"><p class="gmail-ins_mainimg_caption">Native Tongue Should Be Included In Early Schooling: Academics</p></div><b class="gmail-place_cont">New Delhi: </b>
                            A child's native tongue should not be given a
 short shrift during his or her pre-primary years as local language is 
the most important tool for understanding basic concepts in that period,
 an academic said on Thursday. Sunita Singh, Director of Childhood 
Education Centre at the Ambedkar University, made the point on the first
 day of a two-day national conference on 'early language and literacy', 
organised by the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development 
(CECED) in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences.<br><br>"We
 think that language literacy should find some space in the policy... 
Languages early in the age should be taught meaningfully. Children 
should be able to connect," she said. <br><br>Other speakers also 
advocated for multilingual teaching during the early years of a child 
and for a major policy change in favour of the inclusion of local 
language texts.<br><br>Speaking to IANS later, Sunita Singh stressed 
that the current method of teaching involves rote learning in which 
children merely mug up texts without understanding much, which needs to 
change. <br><br>"Mother tongue is important for any children for the 
clarification of basic concepts of things. By the time a child goes to 
school, he already starts speaking his mother tongue and refers to 
objects in that language. Now, if we suddenly ask the child to drop that
 language and impose two alien languages... it would be a great 
injustice," she said.<br><br>She
 maintained that English and Hindi should hold the position they do 
presently in the teaching of the curriculum, but "local languages should
 also be respected". <br><br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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