Is bilingual education desirable in multilingual countries?

Abstract

Many developing countries are populated by multiple ethnic groups who use their own language
 in daily life and in local business, but have to use a common language in national business and
 in communications with other groups. In these countries, how much weights should be placed on
 teaching a local ethnic language and teaching a common language is a critical issue. A similar
 conflict arises in low-income countries in general between teaching skills that are "practical" and
 directly useful in local jobs, and teaching academic skills that are important in modern sector jobs.
 This paper develops a model to examine these questions theoretically. It is shown that balanced
 education of the two languages/skills is critical for skill development of those with limited wealth
 for education. It is also found that the balanced education brings higher earnings net of educational
 expenditure, only when a country has favorable conditions (TFP is reasonably high, and education,
 in particular, common language education [academic education] is reasonably e¤ective) and only
 for those with adequate wealth. Common-language-only (academic-only) education maximizes net
 earnings of those with little wealth, and, when the country's conditions are not good, maximizes
 net earnings of all. This implies that there exists a trade-off between educational and economic
 outcomes for those with little wealth, and, when the conditions are not good, the trade-off exists for
 everyone without adequate wealth. Policy implications derived from the results too are discussed.