Developing pro‐MLE language 

policies in Cambodia and Thailand: 
The role of civil society and academia 

Kimmo Kosonen 
SIL International & Payap University,
Thailand

5th International Conference on Language and 
Education: Sustainable Development Through 
Multilingual Education
19‐21 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
© UNESCO Bangkok
 Outline
o Non‐dominant language (NDL)
o Multilingual education (MLE)
o Cambodia and Thailand in Southeast Asia
o Why pro‐minority developments towards pluralistic 
language‐in‐education policies? 
o The role of the actors on “the side”, in particular civil 
society and academia
o Remaining challenges
 Non‐dominant language (NDL) 
Language or language variety not
considered the most prominent in terms of
o number (of speakers), 
o prestige or 
o official use by the government and/or the 
education system in a given state

(Kosonen 2010, 74)

(Benson &
Kosonen
2013)
 Policies toward increased 
NDL use in education
“Change from above” (top‐down) approach

National / state‐level

(Kosonen & Benson,

Local / community‐level forthcoming)
 Policies toward increased 
NDL use in education
“Change from below” (bottom‐up) approach

National / state‐level

(Kosonen & Benson,

Local / community‐level forthcoming)
 Policies toward increased 
NDL use in education
“Change from the side” approach

National / state‐level
The Side: actors between 
the grassroots and the 
government; e.g. 
The “side”
academics, activists, 
INGOs, multilateral 
agencies etc.
(Kosonen & Benson,
Local / community‐level forthcoming)
© Mahidol PMT Project
 Cambodia & Thailand        
in the Southeast Asian 
context
 Languages of Cambodia: Percent of 
total population (more than 3000 speakers)
Khmer, Central  91.7
Vietnamese  3.0
Chinese, Mandarin 2.7
Cham, Western  1.7
Tampuan  0.2 Tampuan & Jarai:
New MLE pilot with long‐
Mnong, Central  0.2 term L1 use programs 2016 ‐
Lao  0.1
Kuy  0.1 Kuy & Jarai:
Added to MLE programs 
Jarai  0.1
2016 ‐
Kru’ng  0.1
Stieng, Bulo  0.0
Brao  0.0
Chong  0.0
Kravet  0.0
Source: Lewis et al (2013)
Languages of Cambodia
NDLs – 8%

Khmer – 92%
 Languages of Thailand  (1,000,000+ speakers)

Language group  Percent Percent 

Population
(with the ISO 639–3 code) of total of total

Thai [tha]  20,200,000 39.1%

Thai, Northeastern [tts]  15,000,000 29.1%

89.5%
Thai, Northern [nod]  6,000,000 11.6%

Thai, Southern [sou]  4,500,000 8.7%

Khmer, Northern [kxm]  1,400,000 2.7%

Chinese, Min Nan [nan]  1,080,000 2.1%

Malay, Pattani [mfa]  1,000,000 1.9%

Source: Lewis et al (2013)
 Languages of Thailand
Other 
NDLs –
Patani Malay – 1.9% 4.7%
Minnan Chinese – 2.1%
N Khmer – 2.7%

Thai‐related – 90%
 Languages of Thailand
NDLs – 11.4%

Thai – S – 8.7%

Thai – 39.1%
Thai – N – 11.6%

Thai – NE  –
29.1%
 Country Languages of Instruction
Brunei Darussalam Malay, English
Cambodia Khmer, 5 NDLs, 2 NDLs planned, new pilots
Indonesia Indonesian, NDLs in Papua province
Lao PDR Lao
Malaysia Malay, English, Tamil, Mand., NDLs (pilots)
Myanmar Myanmar, 60+ NDLs in NFE and ECE 
Philippines Filipino, English, NDLs (now 19‐212)
Singapore English (main), other OLs (some subjects)
Thailand Thai, some NDLs (pilots)   (15+)
Timor‐Leste Portuguese, Tetun, 3 NDLs (pilots)
Vietnam Vietnamese, some NDLs (pilots)
 Cambodia
Toward multilingual education
 Cambodia
o The use of NDLs started in nonformal education in 
the mid‐1990s – pilot projects by INGOs and 
government partners
o Language development: orthographies, literacy 
materials etc. (Brao, Bunong, Kavet, Krung, 
Tampuan etc.)
o Expansion of bilingual education based on NDLs to 
the formal system – CARE International and their 
government partners, 2002 ‐ > 
o 2016: 5 provinces, 88 schools providing multilingual 
education, 5500+ NDL students
 Cambodia
o Education Law, 2007 (Ch.4, Art.24) ‐ local authorities 
have a right to choose the language(s) of instruction 
in areas where Khmer‐related NDLs languages are 
spoken
o “Guidelines on the implementation of bilingual 
education [MLE] programs for indigenous children in 
highland provinces”, 2010 
o Bilingual Education Decree, 2013 
o MENAP, 2014‐15 (launched March, 2016): four‐year 
action plan on MLE implementation
 Multilingual Education National 
Action Plan (MENAP)
o Four‐year (2015‐2018) action plan on MLE 
implementation
o Vision:

‐ “All ethnic minority children have the right of access to basic 
education, including the use of their mother tongue in the 
initial stages of education.”
‐ “This Multilingual Education National Action Plan (MENAP) 
aims to improve the quality of education and expansion of 
multilingual education in all its aspects.”
 Multilingual Education National 
Action Plan (MENAP)
o Objectives:
‐ To ensure ethnic minority boys and girls have inclusive 
access to quality and relevant education;

‐ To build the capacity of national and sub‐national 
education officials to manage and monitor MLE
implementation;

‐ To scale up MLE provision in relevant provinces; 

‐ To promote demand for quality MLE amongst School 

Support Committees, parents and local authorities. 
 Thailand
Toward multilingual education
National Language Policy (NLP) 2010 
o By Thai Royal Institute (Society)
o Prime Ministers Abhisit and Yingluck signed the 
policy in 2010 & 2012, respectively
o The NLP provides strong support for the use of non‐
dominant languages in general and all learners’ first 
languages in society and in education
o Implementation plan being drafted 
o Implementation budget promised several times, also 
in early 2016
o Pilot projects continue, good outcomes so far
o Political situation holding implementation back 
Excerpts from NLP 2010
“ ‐‐‐ various ethnic groups … have the right to use their mother 
tongues in their homes, in their communities, and in public places.  
This includes the use of their mother tongue in the education system for 
their young people.” (Sect 4.)

The NLP “ ‐‐‐ support[s] the use of the ethnic languages, or the mother 
tongue, as the first language of children in the education system”. 
(Sect 4.)

“It is the policy of the government to promote bilingual or 
multilingual education for the youth of the ethnic groups whose 
mother tongue is different from the national language (Thai) … in order 
to strengthen the study of the Thai language and to support the 
cognitive development and education of children.” (Sect 5.)
Pro‐minority developments: Why? 
o Long‐term commitment of actors on ‘the side’
(local and international academics, mid‐level govt. 
officials, local CSOs, local and international NGOs, 
and international organizations) 
‐ advocacy & awareness raising
‐ corpus planning of NDLs (linguistic research, 
orthographies, standardization)
‐ pilot projects (ECE, NFE, Formal PE) 
 Pro‐minority developments: Why? 
o Fruitful partnership between external actors, 
local communities and government agencies
o Persistent advocacy on the importance of the 
L1‐based education by the actors on the side
o Strong NDL community participation
 Pro‐minority developments: Why? 
o In Cambodia: Progressive national leaders –
“visionaries” ‐‐> official support for NDLs in 
education
o In Cambodia: Timely and sustainable transfer
of responsibility from external actors to 
government agencies
o In Cambodia: Relatively small NDL population
(~ 8‐10%)
 Policies toward increased 
NDL use in education
“Change from the side” approach

National / state‐level
The Side: actors between 
the grassroots and the 
government; e.g. 
The “side”
academics, activists, 
INGOs, multilateral 
agencies etc.
(Kosonen & Benson,
Local / community‐level forthcoming)
 Remaining challenges
o Limited understanding among many government 
officials of L1‐based education, resulting in slow 
expansion of MLE
o Lack of political will and technical resources which 
would enable MLE to be implemented in all NDL 
communities
o Political sensitivities regarding many NDL 
communities due to increasing nationalism (of the 
dominant EL community), which hinder language 
development and MLE delivery
 Remaining challenges
o Government agencies’ vs. academics’ understanding of 
ethnolinguistic classification
o Security concerns with some NDL communities in the 
border areas. 
o Policy implementation only in some – not all –
non‐dominant languages
Kiitos!
Thank you!

kimmo_kosonen@sil.org
 References:
Benson, Carol & Kosonen, Kimmo (2012). A critical comparison of language-in-education policy and
practice in four Southeast Asian countries and Ethiopia. In K. Heugh & T. Skutnabb-Kangas (eds.),
Multilingual Education and Sustainable Diversity Work: From Periphery to Center (pp. 111-137).
New York: Routledge.
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Sense Publishers.
Kosonen, Kimmo (2005). Education in local languages: Policy and practice in South-East Asia. In
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Kosonen, Kimmo (2010). Ethnolinguistic Minorities and Non-Dominant Languages in Mainland
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 References:
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