Multilingualism: A Half-hearted Practice

Abstract

Multilingualism is the use of more than one language by an individual or a community thereby creating an environment where every person feels secure and accepted and no one is left behind on account of his/her linguistic background. Schools should be the platform for children where they can express themselves freely in any language, where no language is violable, standards are not supposed to be maintained and where purity isn’t the goal. Creating such an environment for teaching and learning should be the aim of Education to make our children socially sensitive and cognitively insightful. This study explores the practice of multilingualism in three different types of schools of Delhi. It investigates the disparities amongst various languages. Further, it attempts to understand teachers’ perspectives and their challenges towards the practice of multilingualism. It compares the data from three schools to show how at different levels and in different settings, multilingualism is present.