Formerly all Santali writing were in Devnagari, Bengali, Oriya or Roman script developed by the missionaries. Meanwhile Roman script was in extensive use for writing of Santali and several books have been published in Roman. Wherever, there are impressive range of published material on Santali which has serious implication for their effective use in education as well as their proper development. According to available resources more than 750 books has been written exclusively on Santali by foreigner, Indian and Santal scholars ownself. Since 1890 about 130 journal in Santali language have been published. Most of them stopped publishing. Today the Santals have a thriving literature with publications in all generas from journalism and agricultural instruction to poems and novels. The social background of the authors, the reasons behind their writing and publishing as well as their opportunity to reach an audience are important for understanding of the development of Santal literature in printed form. At present 20 journal come out from different areas in fortnightly, quarterly, weekly, half yearly and annually. It consisting mostly of text books, dictionaries, word books, literature, religion and culture. However books on creative literature and such subjects as philosophy, History, religion are being produced only in Santali language. Thus, we find works in drama, novels, songs and stories. The availability of creative literature and books on a wide range of topics provides a useful resources for production of text-books, extensive use in education, and the expression and interpretation of the ideas, values, and beliefs of other cultures in the context of modern life and conditions. Stream of writing have contributed to their understanding of the Santal. J. Troisi published "The Santal: Reading in Tribal Life in ten volumes from Indian Social Institute, New Delhi 1979. Which has collected fair number of materials on Santal religion and magic, marriage and kinship, myth and folklore, Social organisations, movements and changes etc. Santali is not recent  linguistic apparatus and good translations. There are extensive materials collected and prepared by Bodding, notably Santali folk tales, which can be read alongwith his grammar and dictionary. For Santali the materials published is fairly full.

 Santali is recognised as an optional subject for matriculation in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Standardization problems and political complications have so far prevented text books in Santali being put into general use. The dictionary making works of Santali is encyclopedic in scope, and include all sorts of ethnographic and historical informations. In Santali more than 12 dictionaries or dictionary like works have been written or published up to this date. In source of these dictionaries meaning of the Santali words are given in English. In some others English words are translated into Santali. Recently in 2001 Santali English Japanese Basic Lexicon with Grammatical Notes published by Minegishi, Makoto and Murmu, Ganesh from Institute for the study of languages and cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan. It has been correctly said that what the exchequer is to a king, a Lexicon is to the Scholar. When any dialect develops into a language it becomes necessary to prepare on the one hand grammar of the language and on the other a dictionary in order to standardize its forms and structure. So as to set forth their Orthography, pronunciations, signification and use, their synonyms and history. It is a book of information, reference on any subject or branch of knowledge, the items which are arranged in alphabetical order. Syntactic work is in advanced. The fullest accounts of the Santal syntax studied by Bodding. Bodding did not live to complete the syntactic portion of his excellent Santali Grammar. There are brief treatments of Santali syntax in his primer and in the older grammar of Skrefsrud and much syntactic data can be extracted from Bodding dictionary.
 
The use of Santali language in mass communication is not in such a deplorable situation, though in this respect also their use is more restricted than in education. There are several constraints on the use and effectiveness of Santali language in mass media such as News papers, radio and television. As transmission capacity for television is more restricted than for Radio broadcasts. However, the amount of Radio time and transmission capacity available at present seems to be inadequate to meet the demands of planning language use in the complex multilingual setting of India. There is no sufficient radio time for the Santali language in which the programmes are broadcast. Mr. Mrinal Sen made a full length movie Mrigaya and Aranyer din ratri on Santal life. Santal people produced several number of vedio film and recorded audio cassettes in their own language from different regions. Some of the important Vedio films are  - Bapla, Boyha Maya, Tamba Tulsi, Khobar Kagoj etc. There are number of dramatic clubs who have sprung up to perform recent plays. Santali language has been used in different centre of All India Radio controlled by Central Govt.

 The language have varnacular literature. The medium of education at all levels in most Hindi, Bengali and Oriya. Speaking areas is the regional language, and it is not uncommon to see. The children of class six being taught in a language that hardly any of them understands at all. The conclusion drawn after by the teacher and educational authorities is that the tribals children are "stupid", or happy go lucky and improvident or both. This indicates the linguistic problems which the Santal students face when being taught via the Bengali, Hindi or Oriya language. It is fair, then, to assume that the medium of instruction is one of the important reasons for the much higher drop-out among Santals than among Sheduled Castes in the same areas. The only remedy against this cause for drop-out seems to be the introduction of Santali as a medium of instruction. Learning another language without the knowledge of ones own mother tongue is self-alienation and hampers the speed of  learning. Instead if a person masters his/her own mother tongue he/she can master any other language in the world.

Educationist today agree that it is better to teach a child to read and write in his native language before introducing him to any other language. They believe that it is easier and advisable to develop reading and writing skills in the learner's mother tongue first, which can easily be transferred to other languages learnered subsequently. A learner who already knows how to read in one language, for instance does not have to struggle with the problems of reading all over again. Lack of education through tribal languages, therefore, is partly responsible for tribal learners' poor reading ability. Besides, for tribal learners it has an additional necessity. Language, as we know, is a vital element of culture and the loss of language is a major step towards detribalization. An important corrective against this tendency would be the education of tribal children through their tribal mother tongues.
 
Polyglottal Indian society where Santal live dispersed over a number of states that have different majority languages and as well as at least four different scripts. This situation should make them relevent for the provisions granted for instruction of linguistic minorities in their mother tongue according to paragraph 350A of the Constitution of India which reads:
 It shall be the endeavour of every states and of every local authority within the state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; ...
From the general principles of the Constitution to the practical implementation of instruction in the mother tongue there is a long way, and as we shall see, it is not practised in Governmental school in Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa at present. Santali language is used as a written medium of education. It is a harsh reality that far too often many wonderful Government policies remain only in paper.                                                   

The Santali language and literature has already been recognised by the Central Govt. and State Govt. of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orisaa in the ways mentioned below:
i). Bihar Secondary School Examination Board, Patna and Jharkhand Secondary School Examination Board, Jharkhand have accepted Santali Language/Literature as optional paper in Matriculation level.

ii). The  Govt. of Bihar is first  to publish a journal named "Hor Sambad" since 1947 which is now continue by Govt. of Jharkhand and Govt. of West Bengal Publishing Santali magazine "Puchhim Bangla" regularly  and recognise Ol chiki script for Santali in 1979.

iii).The state Govt. of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa have already initiated action plans for imparting education in mother tongue for the Santal students in primary schools.

iv). The University Grants Commission, Delhi has started imparting education and conferring Post-Graduate Degree in Santali language and literature.

vi). The Bihar Public Service Commission offers Santali Language/Literature as optional paper for its competative Examination

vii). The Govt. of Bihar ahs been conducting Santali Examination for its officers posted in Santali speaking areas in Bihar for administrative purposes/reason

viii). The reowned Vishwa Bharti University i.e. Santiniketan has been imparting education in Santali language for the last 24 years or so.

ix). The Universities of Jharkhand and Bihar, namely Ranchi University, Ranchi, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh, Sidu Kanhu University Dumka, and Baba Tilka Majhi University, Bhagalpur are conducting examinations of Santali language/literature in the Post-Graduate level.

x). Santali literature is written in Roman, Devnagari, Bengali, Oriya and its own Ol Chiki scripts in with out number. Ol Chiki is now gaining popularity day and night. Its DTP solution and computer application has been developed by the Chaichampa Sahitya Academy, Bhubneshwar in 1996,  Santali-Japanese joint Research Project, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies  developed auto-machine transcription of different Indian language scripts i.,e., Devanagri, Bengali, Oriya, Roman, Kannada, Telgu, Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and  Roman etc into Ol Chiki script and reverse of it in 1998. Recently wesanthals@yahoogroups.com <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wesanthals> developed three type of Ol Chiki fonts in web and  use to send their mail with Ol Chiki script.

Santali is a language by itself,  with its own special characteristics, has a literature which goes back at the beginning of the 15th Century and down through these centuries. Santali language and literature as a subject found a place in the Modern Indian language department of the Indian Universities. It should be included in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution of India and should accepted by the Sahitya Akademi and such other official and cultural bodies.

Santal movement for survival and solidarity is not a new phenomena. They have their own history. The 1855-57 rebellion, which was motivated solely by economic deprivations, was the last of its kind and was secular to the colonial system of the British Raj. In the present decades these movements have penetrated deep into the Indian power structure formed of New Jharkhand State, which the Santals have achieved to some extent by sending their representatives to the Lok Sabha and legislative Assembly.  India, at present being a welfare state, guarantees every citizen whether tribal or non-tribal protects  from exploitation. Therefore, the Santal movement is now guided by broader socio-cultural considerations. It is a tribe in search of its great tradition. If it cultivates a literature, Provides a script, then it is in no way more misguided than say Konkani, Maithili, pahari, and Bhojpuri. It also suffers similar disadvantages of being separated at least by five distinct political boundaries. The movement of Santalis, who are spread over five states stand as the example of solidarity movement.

State boundaries of India conform to those of main languages. Each state usually comprises various language communities as well as a main state language. Some communities have demanded their own independent States. The demand of Santals, Mundas, Hos, Kharias and other people was sanction, and Southern part of Bihar state became independent on 15th of November 2000 to form a New State called Jharkhand. As a result Santali, one of the major languages in the new state has gained the possibility to be designated as an official language of the Jharkhand.

The Santal people of India demands on behalf of Santali language for Sahitya Academy award  for the best literature and for inclusion in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution  for recognition, privilages and to merit special attention for development. The Eighteen (18) languages comprising the VIII Schedule of the Constitution of India divided themselves into three family groups INDO-ARYAN,  DRAVIDIAN and TIBETO BURMAN. None of the Austric families are included. Wherever the number of Austro-Asiatic languages are 23 according to the census of India 1981. The Santali language which is distributed in more than five states have undergone periodic gradual upheavals to reassure themselves of their threatend solidarity or to consolidate their position as a viable force. In fact, when we compare Santali language with Nepali, Manipuri, Sindhi, and Kashmiri, are linguistically more stable and demographically numerous. While four of these languages have received the official protection by virtue of their being included in the VIII Schedule of the Indian Constitution but  Santali language are still struggling for his own identify. The number of Santali speakers is bigger than the total number of speakers of four of the languages already included under the 8th Schedule. The Konkani language, which is no better than Santali in this respect, has however the added advantage of not being a Tribal language. Konkani has received some amount of recognition both from Governmental and non-Governmental agencies, which would go a long way in achieving its self-preservation. Santali was to be included before Sindhi and Kashmiri language. It was to be ranked in 14th out of 18th languages already given special priorities by the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The Santal authors stress in their arguments that the existence of a much greater number of books and journals in Santali than in many of the languages which have already been included under the 8th Schedule. The recognised languages of the 8th Schedule provide majority streams in education.

However, it is minority language in the Indian States, may enjoy the status of official language whether constituting the majority of the inhabitance or not. For examples:-
(a)  Urdu is the official language in Jammu and Kashmir and in Karnataka;
(b)  A minority language may be the language of majority in a particular State. Telgu is official language in Tamil Nadu vis-a-vis Telgu in Andhra.
(c)  Santali language may be the official language in more than one State. For example, Santali in Orissa, Santali in Jharkhand, Santali in West Bengal , Santali  in Assam ,  Tripura and  in  Bihar.

In order to make text and reference books available in the regional languages, the Central Government sanctioned a grant of Rupees one crore to each state. This led to the setting up of Granth Academies and allied Institutions in the different states.
Outline of the Language Policy indicating:
(i)  It will be obligatory for all the States to introduce the three languages formula (English, the language of the region and the official language). In their educational curriculum, extend it to the University stage, and to apply it strictly.
(ii)   The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination will be conducted in English, Hindi  and the other national languages mentioned in the VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution.
(iii)  In the UPSC examinations, there will be compulsory papers in Hindi and English and in the case of candidates whose medium is Hindi, a paper in any other language of the VIIIth Schedule.
(iv)  To achieve the aforesaid purposes:
(a.)  The national language of each State will become the medium of administration as well as instruction at the University stage as early as possible:
(b.)   A phased programme for the development of Hindi and its progressive use will be prepared and carried out so that it can serve effectively as the official language of the Union of India and the link language for the country.
(c.)   A programme for the development of other national languages will also be prepared and implemented.

An evaluation as to what extent the above language policy has been implemented so far reveals, many gaps that become visible in the framework of policy and the process of implementation. The three-language-formula should be introduced in every State with all seriousness. The linguistic minorities in different States should not be made to suffer and as far as possible arrangement should be made to impart education to them in their mother-tongue in case they so desire. The syllabii and schemes of the all India and State competitive examinations should be revised in such a manner as may not cause any basic handicap for those students who would study through the medium of their mother-tongue. The University Grants Commisssion or the Ministry of Education should organise a conference like this one of all Key persons, Directors of Education and other educational administrators closely connected with this matter in order to evolve a common and uniform pattern as far as possible. At present, the position is confused and even within a State uniform practice is not followed.
Languages has long been recognised as an important social phenomenon. It has also been recognised that languages could be planned and its direction changed according to the changing social situations of a given time and place. There can be no theoritical objections to the organised re-scheduling of the languages so as to absorb, respond and reflect the demands of the social change. The use of mother tongue also leads to emotional fulfilment. In a stable and organised society, with its own socio-economic culture the mother tongue has, of course, the greatest formative value. It  needs a pragmatic approach with vision and farsight. The prejudice against any language should be given up. In regard to the problem of languages there is a need for conducting a comprehensive research without further delay so that the correct position may be known and the right acceptable solution found. It will be suicidal to impose any ready-made solution in haste.

In the term of language development, the only Constitutional guarantee the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste(Dalits) and other backward classes have is that Article 350-A requires the state to provide facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to tribal and other backward class children. However, Santals, Mundas, Hos, Kharias and other tribal languages of Jharkhand need a constitutional mandate for the state to provide facilities for the study of the mother tongue at least up to class VIII to children of linguistic minorities. They also need a constitutional guarantee not to be forced to study in school through any language of the dominant culture within the Jharkhand State.