Bailey, 2007 (figures from Government of Orissa) The picture presented of a primary school in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India reveals the problem of non-comprehension for tribal children in the classroom: The children seemed totally disinterested in the teacher’s monologue. They stared vacantly at the teacher and sometimes at the blackboard where some alphabets had been written. Clearly aware that the children could not understand what he was saying, the teacher proceeded to provide an even more detailed explanation in a much louder voice. Later, tired of speaking and realizing that the young children were completely lost, he asked them to start copying the alphabets from the blackboard. “My children are very good at copying from the black board. By the time they reach grade 5, they can copy all the answers and memorise them. But only two of the grade 5 students can actually speak Hindi”, said the teacher. Jhingran, 2005 p.1 Jhingran’s study of a selection of schools in one Block in four different States showed that  Children have no comprehension of teacher’s language even after about 6 months in Grade I.  Grade I children showed no recognition of alphabets, except when arranged in sequence (showing that they can only “learn” by rote and memorisation).  Teaching emphasised passive participation, and copying alphabets and numbers from blackboards or text books.  There was very little conversation or oral work in children’s L2, the medium of instruction.  The situation was a little better when there was a tribal teacher speaking children’s language. While the medium of instruction was still in an unknown language the tribal teacher could help them out.