ABSTRACT
Language planning, particularly language-in-education planning in Bangladesh, has been laden with problematic issues which have slowed down the development of a sustainable and operational policy work for the nation since, and even before, independence in 1971. The chapter aims at proposing a framework for an inclusive, bi-/multilingual language-in-education policy and planning in Bangladesh. The framework is based on the perspectives ‘language-as-resource’ (Ruiz, 1984) and ‘language policy as a balancing act’ (Rappa & Wee, 2006). The rationale for adopting a ‘language policy as a balancing act’ perspective will be presented by identifying problems in other approaches to language policy and planning such as the linguistic human rights and the instrumentalist approaches, and examining how these are handled in the balancing act approach. The strategies of inclusive planning have been discussed next as the potential outcomes of language-in-education planning as a balancing act in Bangladesh. Finally, the chapter explains how the adopted bi-/multilingual language-in-education planning can start a workable avenue towards achieving a harmonious co-existence of languages in Bangladesh.
