Ascertaining access to mother tongue-based multilingual education

for ethnolinguistic communities of Nepal

Dr. Ambika Regmi

4th 4th International Language and Education ConferenceBangkok, 6-8 November, 2013

Outline1. Introduction

2. Policies, practices, and prospects of MLE in Nepal– Policies – Practices– Prospects

3. Challenges of MLE in Nepal

4. Strategies to guarantee access to MTB-MLE in all ethnolinguistic communities of Nepal

5. Conclusions

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1 Introduction• Nepal is a highly multilingual and multicultural country• More than 125 officially recognized caste and ethnic

groups • Around 123 officially recognized languages of four

language families (Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian) and Kusunda, a language isolate.

• Only a very few ethnic languages have written tradition. They include Newar, Limbu, Magar, Tamang, Sherpa, Lepcha, and Gurung.

• Quality basic education, which is possible only through MTB-MLE, has not yet been guaranteed in Nepal.

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Languages of Nepal

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Challenges of basic education in ethnolinguistic communities - 1

• Medium of instruction and textbooks is in Nepali, even for children not speaking Nepali

• The curriculum is based on mainstream Nepali culture and ignores non-Nepali students’ own knowledge and experiences

• In non-Nepali communities, teachers unlikely share the students’ social and cultural background or speak the students’ language.

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• School is “an unfamiliar place teaching unfamiliar concepts in an unfamiliar language”

• Students do not understand the content of prescribed lessons which leads to low performance in knowledge tests.

• As a result, many children repeat grades or leave school altogether, being eventually discouraged

• “8% out of 6-14 school age children are deprived of education and only 39.5 % completed class five of basic education in time.”

Challenges of basic education in ethnolinguistic communities - 2

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2 MLE policies in Nepal

• World Education Forum in Dakar 2000: “to ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls and children from ethnic minorities, have access to complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality”. Nepal is committed to this provision.

• The EFA Core Document ensures the right of every child to receive education of good quality in Nepal by 2015 and that schools to be inclusive learning centers of excellence that respond to the learning needs of all children.

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MLE policies in Nepal

In order to assure the fundamental right to receive basic education in mother tongue:

• The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) has granted the right to language communities to get basic education in their mother tongue, as provided for in the law.

• Local Self-governance Act has authorized local bodies to run primary schools in learners’ mother tongues.

• Education Act, amended in 2002, and regulations have also provisions for running primary schools learners’ in mother tongue.

• Curriculum of Primary Education, 2007 has also authorized: – Primary education in respective mother tongues– Mother tongue as subject: 4 credit hours and 100 full marks

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• National curriculum framework, 2007: first phase of basic education (grades 1-3) can be imparted in the mother tongue.

• Three year interim plan, 2007: institutionalization of education in the mother tongue; expansion of such program in par with the demand and promotion of multilingual education.

• Implementation guidelines, 2005: District curriculum coordination committees and Regional curriculum coordination committees have also made provisions for developing curriculum and teaching materials at the local level.

• Multilingual education implementation guidelines, 2010: have been endorsed by the government.

MLE policies in Nepal

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• It has been difficult to ensure the rights of indigenous peoples and linguistic minorities to basic and primary education and to encourage mother tongue-based education programs to help increase the access of children from diverse linguistic groups to education.

• MLE pilot was initiated in 2007 by the government with the Technical Assistance of the government of Finland; it ran for 2½ years.

• MLE pilot program implemented in 8 languages in 21 schools (7 in the beginning) of 6 districts.

• Some NGOs and speech communities have been involved in preparing MLE materials

MLE practices in Nepal

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• The Curriculum Development Center has produced textbooks for mother tongue as a subject in 20 languages from grade 1-5.

• The National Center for Education Development has started teacher training for mother tongue education.

• The Non-formal Education Center has initiated non-formal classes in mother tongues.

• The government of Nepal has endorsed Multilingual Education Implementation Guidelines, 2010 focusing on the “bottom-up” approach.

MLE practices in Nepal

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• Textbooks and reading materials as medium and subject in selected languages (viz. Maithili, Newar, Lapcha, Yakkha, Chepang, Bhujel, and Bote) are being prepared under the Multilingual Education Component of the Linguistic Survey of Nepal, Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University.

• Such textbooks are being prepared by: developing and adopting appropriate orthographies; and (on the basis of the research) adapting the material in conformity with socio-cultural and linguistic background of the learners in the true spirit of multilingual education in Nepal.

MLE practices in Nepal

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• Strong constitutional provisions for MTB-MLE• Government policy is positive for MLE • Minority and indigenous speech communities are

interested in preparing textbooks and reference materials in their respective mother tongues

• Increasing involvement of NGOs in MLE• Involvement of the Linguistic Survey of Nepal in

developing materials for MTB-MLE• Gradual growing awareness in speech communities of

the importance of MLE

Prospects of MLE Nepal

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3 Challenges of MLE in Nepal• Nepal lacks a detailed, reliable, comprehensive, and all-

inclusive picture of the language and dialect situation.• Many languages in Nepal are preliterate, still undescribed or

poorly described, and seriously endangered or endangered. In preliterate languages, until a writing system is developed, textbooks and other reading materials may not be developed and implemented without obstacles.

• There is a lack of appropriate textbooks and reference materials in Nepal. Those so far produced by the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) as models and prepared by other institutions and non governmental agencies are mostly translated with a little adaptation.

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• In most areas of multilingual Nepal there are students from divergent socio-linguistic backgrounds. For effective learning, such students may require textbooks and reading materials to be compatible with their respective backgrounds.

• There is a lack of trained multilingual teachers in Nepal.• There is a lack of positive attitude to MTB-MLE among teachers

and language communities. • There is also lack of coordination between the experts,

language communities, and policy makers.• Multilingual Education Implementation Guidelines (2010): on

the one hand it does not follow transitional bi/multilingual education; on the other hand it lacks adequate operational links with the system's mechanism.

3 Challenges of MLE in Nepal

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4 Strategies• Transitional bi/multilingual education should be strictly

followed.• Reliable, comprehensive, and all-inclusive sociolinguistic

information of all the languages spoken in Nepal is needed for the proper implementation of MLE in Nepal.

• Textbooks and reference materials must be adapted for the local context and needs. The present trend of translation with only minimum adaptation must not be encouraged; this will definitely aggravate the situation.

• A thorough description, including the sound system, of each language must at least be made. In preliterate languages, such description helps in the development of a writing system.

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• Multilingual Education Implementation Guidelines (2010) has to be framed to be compatible with effective MLE principles.

• Adequate operational links with the system's mechanism have to be maintained.

• Maximum adaptation of the materials to local contexts must be made so that the students, as well the teachers, will find the materials interesting.

• The local authorities are to provide financial support and central level agencies are to provide technical support for MLE implementation.

• International MLE agencies should properly monitor the programs to ensure that they are run according to effective MLE principles.

4 Strategies

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• Writing systems must be determined with the consent of the respective speech communities.

• Ethnographic documentation of all the minority languages must be done for the collection, identification, recognition, and preservation of the information about the culture and traditional knowledge embodied in such languages.

• Proper incentives like promotion, special allowances, and special training opportunities should be provided for the trained multilingual teachers. By providing such incentives, positive attitudes may be created even among general teachers.

4 Strategies

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• The minority speech communities, which are mostly marginalized educationally, economically, and socially, must be assured by the government that they do not need to migrate for a better life. Migration has tended to result in disinterestedness in multilingual education among the minority speech communities.

• Such communities should be convinced of the practical importance of multilingual education.

• The government should facilitate model MLE-schools run with the financial and technical support of INGOs like SIL International. The government should start model MLE-schools in other areas as well.

4 Strategies

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5 Conclusions• The present education and language policies and practices do

not support the proper implementation of mother tongue-based multilingual education.

• Teacher preparation is the most critical factor for effective implementation of MLE in Nepal.

• Parents should be made aware of the importance of MLE by language activists and concerned stakeholders.

• Cooperation and coordination among the concerned stakeholders (government, universities, speech communities) is essential.

• MTB-MLE is indispensable in Nepal to ensure the rights of the indigenous peoples and linguistic minorities to basic and primary education.

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Thank you

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