Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Language is a road to upward mobility and for others; it is a barrier to even the marginal life of choice and dignity. For millions of people, whose languages are rendered powerless in a society where only one or few languages are dominant, exclusion of mother tongues from social domains of significance has serious consequences for basic survival and wellbeing. Educational failure of linguistic minorities all over the world is primarily related to the mismatch between the home language and the language of formal instruction. The ‘Madia Gond’ is a tribe inhabiting the Dandakaranya forests in the Central Eastern part of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India. This tribe has been in existence for centuries. However, this gentle race was completely cut-off from civilization, knowing no clothing, education, or health care. ‘Marathi’ being the basic medium of education in the state of Maharashtra, the tribal children (whose mother-tongue is Madia which does not have the script) in the Gadchiroli district are unable to make sense of the study material when they are enrolled for class in government schools. As a result, in many cases, these children end up repeating the class more than once until they begin to make sense of the language itself. The main objective of the study is to design product or a platform, which would help the children of Madia-Gond society to understand Marathi alphabets.