ABSTRACT

Quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) programmes with a focus on usage of child’s mother tongue enhance well-being of children, leads to gains in performance outcomes inclusive of foundational language and literacy skills. Emphasizing the critical role of mother tongue based learning in early years, the New Education Policy (2020) advocates for mother tongue as medium of instruction promoting children’s learning in additional languages to strengthen cognitive outcomes among children. The present study aimed to examine effectiveness of Mother Tongue Based Early Learning and Parent + (MTELP+) programme and usage of language by teacher on preschool environment and teaching-learning practices. Anganwadi Assessment Scale (2022) was utilized to collect data from 1448 Anganwadis (Government preschools) located in 12 tribal districts of Odisha, India where 10 tribal languages were predominant. The findings underscored the strategically planned decision of VLF partnership with Government to scale up the MTELP+ programme to ensure its sustainability. The significant role of mother tongue in creating a responsive preschool environment, enhancing effective teaching-learning practices, and improving teacher-child interactions was showcased. Crucial components of mentoring and supportive supervision need to be continued for advancing quality early childhood education.

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