Worldwide, nearly 7000 languages are spoken today. Many languages are spoken by ethnic minorities who are educationally and economically disadvantaged because of limited language fluency. This language gap must be bridged if countries are to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All aims.

More than 200 million children globally live in homes where languages spoken are different than the ones used in school. These children are vulnerable to non enrolment, repetition and non drop out.

on this subject: The UN Millenium Development Goals