Archaic punishment methods in our schools are stunting children’s educational growth and erasing cultural heritage
Dr Vijay A D’Souza SJ
In educational institutions in Nagaland and the Northeast in general, a troubling tradition is found. In most private schools and some well-regarded government schools across the region, children are punished for the simple act of speaking their mother tongue.
The methods employed are as varied as they are humiliating. Some schools impose monetary fines on children caught speaking their native languages. Others resort to shaming techniques.
Sometimes a child must carry a brick around the school premises until finding another student committing the same "offence" to pass it along. Perhaps most degrading are the placards hung around children's necks bearing messages like "I am a donkey," "I was caught speaking Lotha," or "Henceforth I will only speak English."
This practice, believed to be effective in forcing children into learning English, is not only misguided, but harmful and educationally counterproductive, as it negatively affects children’s cognitive development.
Language Banning and Language Shaming
Language-related punishment (language punishment) often starts with language banning; the prohibition imposed on children against speaking their mother tongues. Perhaps the most harmful form of language punishment is language shaming, the practice of humiliating children for speaking their languages. Indigenous languages worldwide have suffered from banning and shaming, and most indigenous languages in places like the USA, Canada, and Australia have gone extinct due to such practices. The tribal languages of the Northeast are on the same trajectory: these methods are causing rapid and large-scale linguistic and cultural endangerment.
Linguistic Disruption and the Cost of Language Punishment
These punitive measures inflict damage far beyond momentary embarrassment. They lead to the phenomenon called “linguistic disruption,” which can create learning barriers that persist throughout their educational journey and set back their cognitive development clock by several years. Research in developmental linguistics shows that a child's mother tongue forms the scaffolding for all future learning. When children are prevented from using their mother tongue, their foundational thinking processes suffer. Linguistic disruption hampers mathematical reasoning, scientific thinking, and overall academic confidence. The poor performance in mathematics and science subjects across Northeast schools may well be traced back to this fundamentally flawed educational (mal)practice.
The cultural implications are equally distressing. Within just one or two generations, entire languages face precipitous decline. Since indigenous languages embody identity, remembered history, ethical code and much more, with the decline of these languages, children grow up culturally alienated by losing connection to their community's rich heritage. If the practice of language punishment continues unabated, the tribal languages of Northeast will face a severe existential crisis within a generation. Therefore, the problem needs to be addressed urgently.
Arguments in favour of language-banning
Three arguments are usually put forth by the proponents of language-banning policy in schools. The first among them is that English is far more important for children’s future and enhances their job opportunities and contact with the outside world. This is a flawed argument because, to promote the mother tongue does not mean denigrating the importance of English. Educational outcomes in places where mother tongues are respected nurtured are generally better, especially in mathematics and science, as compared to those where mother tongues are banned.
The second argument is that the mother tongue ban is applicable only on school campuses and children are free to speak their languages at home. This argument misses two crucial aspects of the problem. First, punishments and humiliation create negative attitudes in children about their language and an impression that English is the superior language. Such children carry these attitudes into their adulthood and are more likely to give up their language when they grow up. Secondly, this argument misses the advantage of additive language learning (described below) and treats a child’s mother tongue as an adversary instead of an invaluable ally in effective education.
Another argument, found in urban elite circles, is that some children succeed academically despite abandoning their mother tongue and growing up knowing only English. This is a case of false generalisation. Such success stories are confined to small, privileged groups with resources for expensive schools with better facilities and constant exposure to advanced English materials. These privileges are not available to the majority, especially in rural areas. Moreover, English-only upbringing can carry serious social and emotional costs. An ongoing study by North Eastern Institute of Language and Culture (NEILAC, Guwahati) found that economically well-placed tribal youths who grew up speaking only English reported feelings of alienation, pain and shame at being unable to speak their native language or connect with elders and extended families in villages. Many yearn to learn their language as adults but find it nearly impossible.
These flawed arguments supporting language banning in schools stem from a lack of awareness about the importance of mother tongue in children's social, emotional, educational and cognitive development.
The Role of Parents and Schools
Parents and schools, driven by aspirations for their children's future economic security, unknowingly subscribe to what linguists call the "subtractive model" of education. This approach sets one language against another as though they are enemies. It attempts to replace the mother tongue with English.
Schools implement language punishment practices for two reasons: their own lack of awareness of the critical issues of linguistic and cultural endangerment, and pressure from parents who mistakenly believe that suppressing native languages will help children learn English faster and better.
This is not to negate the good work that most schools are doing throughout the Northeast. These institutions, with teams of dedicated teachers and management, have contributed enormously to the advancement of education in the region. However, well-meaning as they are, they cannot be oblivious to the unintended harm caused by punitive language policies. For a better educational future, therefore, schools must be an important part of the solution and must play a central role in leveraging the multiple benefits of strong and healthy mother tongues.
Lessons from Success Stories in Education
Northeast's approach stands in stark contrast to educationally successful regions elsewhere in India. For example, schools in southern states, widely recognised for consistently producing better educational outcomes in mathematics and science, did not adopt such punitive language policies, at least until recently.
In fact, most primary and secondary schools in these states still use vernacular as the medium of instruction. Even in most English-medium schools, children have maintained good mother tongue foundations while achieving English proficiency. Bilingual methods, where lessons are explained first in the mother tongue and then English, are generally practiced. Fluency in the native language and the freedom to speak it freely are a great help in learning English and other subjects well.
The Path Forward: “Additive Model” of Education
For better education, schools and families must adopt "additive" rather than "subtractive" language learning models. The additive approach builds upon children's mother tongue foundation to teach English and other subjects, even in English-medium schools. This method produces confident, fluent speakers of both their native language and English.
Students educated through additive models demonstrate superior academic outcomes across all subjects. They develop "confident fluency": the ability to think, learn, and express themselves effectively in multiple languages without language-switching difficulties or cultural confusion. Recent research also shows that multilingual children are generally more creative and have better problem-solving skills. It has also been found that multilingual persons have less cognitive decline in old age. Therefore, by depriving children of a multilingual future, parents and schools are failing in their duty towards their wellbeing.
Urgent Steps needed
Some urgent steps from all stakeholders are needed before the harm continues unabated. The first of these steps is governmental and community-level policy intervention. State, Central and community-level education policies must explicitly prohibit language banning and language shaming in all educational institutions. Clear guidelines should mandate respect for linguistic diversity while ensuring English proficiency goals are met through pedagogically sound methods. Bilingual education, in English and the mother tongue, is realistically achievable in most rural areas where single tribal languages predominate. A balanced language policy serves both individual development and access to local, national and international knowledge and economic processes.
The second step is teacher training. Educational models focusing on additive language teaching need development and dissemination. Teachers should be trained in multilingual pedagogy that honours students' linguistic heritage while building additional language competencies.
Thirdly, parent sensitisation is needed regarding the cognitive and cultural benefits of maintaining mother tongue proficiency and the harm of losing mother tongues. Success stories from regions that embrace multilingual education should be widely shared.
Towards a Multilingual Future
In the context of rapid language endangerment in the Northeast, it is time to abandon the educationally destructive and culturally devastating practices of language banning and language shaming.
The Northeast's children deserve educational approaches that build upon their strengths rather than punishing them for their heritage. Linguistic and cultural diversity needs to be celebrated, not suppressed. Only then can the region unlock its full educational potential while preserving its remarkable linguistic diversity for future generations.
The question isn't whether children ought to learn English or not. Of course, they must learn it well. The question is whether we will continue to sacrifice their cognitive development, educational growth, cultural identity, and academic potential in pursuit of a misguided notion of linguistic uniformity.
The author is the Director of the North Eastern Institute of Language and Culture (NEILAC www.neilac.org.in), Guwahati. He serves as an Associate Fellow in the study of Endangered Languages at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, and specialises in minority language documentation and revitalisation across Northeast India.
