By Trent Brown and Richard Barz
Despite widespread recognition of the value of Hindi education in Australia, the number of mainstream schools and universities that teach Hindi remains extremely limited. It has been challenging to get Hindi education off the ground, given a lack of accredited Hindi language teachers and a paucity of quality teaching materials that are attuned to the Australian curriculum. Policy interventions that rely on simple ‘quick fixes’ are unlikely to bring about the change required. Policymakers must recognise that language education occurs in a complex ecosystem, which only thrives when there are dynamic connections between primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education, and when diaspora communities are given space to provide a supportive role.
This Very Short Policy Brief recommends that governments at local, state, and federal levels work together to establish such ecosystems for Hindi education in a small number of strategically chosen locations – particularly in Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra.