The English-Only Myth: Multilingual Education in India

The first section of this overview starts by briefly sketching the state of the school education system in India. We then note that English-medium private schools are often not much better than government schools (whether English-medium or not). The second section argues that English-medium education in India must be seen in the larger context of a mother-tongue-medium education. English-medium-only education in India gives poor educational results, and it increases social inequalities. The way forward lies in a mother-tongue-based multilingual education that includes English.