Panel 2- Public policy objectives for education in, and the teaching of, minority languages Shivani Nag “When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to see you or hear you...when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked in the mirror and saw nothing. It takes some strength of soul--and not just individual strength, but collective understanding--to resist this void, this non-being, into which you are thrust, and to stand up, demanding to be seen and heard.” These words by Adreinne Rich in Blood, bread and poetry, poignantly convey the experience of students whose lived realities are rendered invisible and voices muted in the classroom, as the schools refuse to recognize their right to be taught in their own languages … languages, without which higher mental cognition cannot happen... languages without which meaningful scaffolding of academic concepts on students’ prior experiences (a much recommended pedagogic strategy) cannot happen, since it is through the home language that everyday reality is experienced, reflected upon and communicated. That this continues to be the reality of many many many students was emphatically brought forth in the Asia-Pacific forum meeting in September 2019 in Bangkok. The participants shared - majority of languages continue to remain excluded from classroom spaces - in several linguistically diverse countries in the Asia –Pacific region where the diversity is contributed by both – historical co-existence of several diverse ethnic-linguistic communities and also by way of migration. A deeply concerning aspect is that often the exclusion was not justified by the small numbers of the group and hence the (quote –unquote) “feasibility” issues. Instead it involved exclusion of languages of even those communities whose numbers were large but to whom ‘political agency and participation’ was sought to be denied. Many of these exclusions are not just problems in difficulties in implementation but in intent. The challenges we face are tougher and need to be recognized. Multilingualism in the Asia-Pacific region manifests itself as presence of multiple languages and also multilingual individuals. Many in India like me grow with up at least three to four languages. These include-the home language- in my case Kangri (an endangered language), the official regional language of the state (in my case Hindi), India’s official languages (Hindi and English) and often regional languages of other states if people have to move there. The chances of you being a multilingual are higher if your home language is not a language of international, national or regional dominance. it is only the relatively small number of speakers of ‘dominant’ languages who can afford to remain monolingual. But, unfortunately they are often responsible for policies in education. At Asia-Pacific forum we wanted to acknowledge individual bilingualism-multilingualism as the norm, while formulating recommendations. The recommendations must identify and establish