54D_Yadav

MLE Practices in Nepal:A case of Rajbanshi

Surya Prasad Yadav

[email protected]

Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN)

Central Department of Linguistics, TU, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

4th International Conference on Language and Education:Multilingual Education for All in Asia and the Pacific –

Policies, Practices and ProcessesNov. 6, 2013

1. Background

• Though small in size, Nepal is characterized by much

linguistic diversity.

• The population census 2011 has identified 123

languages in use among the 125 caste and ethnic

groups although Ethnologue (2012) lists 124 living

languages spoken in Nepal.

• These languages belong to the four language families,

viz. Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic, and

Dravidian and there is one language isolate, viz.

Kusunda.

2. Language situation in the study area

• Rajbanshi is a cross-border language used in Nepal and

its adjacent area of West Bengal, India.

• It is mostly spoken in Jhapa, an eastern district in Nepal

Tarai.

• Rajbanshi speech community is multilingual. The

languages spoken other than Rajbanshi include

Tajpuriya, Gangai, Bengali, Nepali, Maithili, Santhali and

several Kirati languages shifted from the northeastern

hills of Nepal.

• Tajpuriya, Bengali, Maithili and Gangai are more closely

related to Rajbanshi than other languages. They have

mutual intelligibility.

3. Rajbanshi language: An introduction

• Rajbanshi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by a vast majority of people in south-eastern Nepal in Jhapa and Morang districts and also in India and Bangladesh.

• The census 2011 states the number of speakers of Rajbashi as approximately 122,214, that is, 0.46% of the total population of Nepal.

• Script: The Devanagri script is used in writing Rajbanshi language.

• Written literature: The available resources in their language are: Phonemic inventory, Grammar, Dictionary, Textbooks, Literacy materials, Newspapers, Folklore,Magazines poems, stories, etc (Source: LinSun field study, 2013).

Contd…

• Literacy rate: The Rajbanshi language community has very low literacy rates. (NNLPI, 2001).

• Dialects: Rajbanshi language of Nepal appears to be made up of several dialects that comprise a dialect chain (Eppele, 2001).

• Domains of language use: Rajbanshi is used in different domains such as counting, singing, joking, bargaining/ shopping/marketing, storytelling, discussing/debate, praying, quarreling, abusing, telling stories to children, singing at home, family gathering, and village meeting (Source: LinSun field study, 2013).

4. MLE in Rajbanshi language

• The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) has made a

provision for introducing all the mother tongues or

national languages in primary education.

• Rajbanshi, a mother tongue/national language, has also

been used by Curriculum Development Centre in its MLE

programme.

• However, it has been used as an optional subject instead

of a medium of instruction for all the subjects excluding

language subjects such as Nepali and English.

Contd…

• This presentation explores the use of Rajbanshi

employed as medium of instruction in the three specific

schools established by an NGO, viz. Nepali National

Languages Preservation Institute (NNLPI) in

collaboration with SIL Int’l.

• This initial MLE program has been introduced since 2010

in the following three MLE schools in the Jhapa district:

– 1. Aamgachhi School

– 2. Chilhara School

– 3. Harira School

Contd…

• Aamgrachhi school is situated at Korabari VDC, ward

number 2 in Jhapa district. At present, it has 110

students - 64 are boys and 46 are girls.

• Chilhara is the second MLE school of Jhapa district,

which is situated at Khajurgachhi VDC, ward number 3.

There are 79 students - 39 are boys and 40 are girls.

• Harira is the third MLE school located at Khajurgachhi

VDC, ward number 4 in Jhapa district. There are 72

students - 36 are boys and 36 are girls.

Photograph 1: Aamgachhi School

Photograph 2: Chilhara School

Photograph 3: Harira School

30

0

26

015 11

30

0

26

0

13 13

30

0

13

0

4 9

30

0

14

0

7 7

Expected numbers No. of enrollments boys girls

KG G1 G2 G3

Figure 1: Aamgachhi School

Figure 2: Chilhara School

300

26

0

1511

30

0

26

0

1313

30

0

13

0

49

30

0

14

0

7 7

Expected numbers No. of enrollments boys girls

KG G1 G2 G3

30 3316 17

3012

7 5

30

15

7 8

30

12

6 6

Expectednumbers

No. ofenrollements

boys girls

KG G1 G2 G3

Figure 3: Harira School

Classes Aamgachhi Chilhara Harira Total

boys girls boys girls boys girls

KG 21 13 15 11 16 17 93

G1 17 8 13 13 7 5 63

G2 15 10 4 9 7 8 53

G3 11 15 7 7 6 6 52

Total 64 46 39 40 36 36 261

Table 1: The aggregate enrollments in the three schools

• There are 261 students in the three schools in total.

• Almost 95% are Rajbanshi speaking and the rest are Santhali, Tajpuriya and Gangai speakers. However, non-Ranjbanshi speakers also understand Rajbanshi as their second language.

• All the three schools have a workplan to provide mother tongue-based education.

• They use three languages - Rajbanshi, Nepali and English; however, the medium of instruction is Rajbanshi, whereas Nepali and English are taught as subjects.

Table 2: Inclusion of the languages in the workplan

Languages KG Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

Rajbanshi Rajbanshi Rajbanshi Rajbanshi Rajbanshi

Nepali - Nepali Nepali Nepali

English - - English English

Other

language

(Medium of

instruction)

Rajbanshi Rajbanshi Rajbanshi/

Nepali

Nepali/

Rajbanshi

5. Reading materials in Rajbanshi

• NNLPI has prepared some reading materials for the

mother tongue-based education; however, these

materials have not yet been published.

• To prepare these reading materials, some selected

knowledgeable individuals from different fields of

Rajbanshi background were invited and involved so that

they represent their local culture and contents.

Table 3: List of the reading materials

Subject KG G1 G2 G3

Rajbanshi-1 Mor pahila

kitab

(a-dh)

Rajbanshi

Bhasha

Sikchha-1

Listening

story-14

Rajbanshi

Bhasha

Sikchha-2

Listening

story-14

Rajbanshi

Bhasha

Sikchha-3

Nepali-2 × Listening

story-14

TPR Set

Listening

story-17

Figure-7

Nepali katha

mala

(students’book)

Listening

story-13

Figure-11

Grammar

practice book

and Nepali

practice book-

2

Contd…

English-3 × × Alphabet book-

vol. 1-3

Big books for

story telling

Reading book

(A-Z)

Story book with

Exercises

Student writing

copy

English Songs

Practice

worksheets-10

Figure-1

Songs-3

Listening story-

2

Figure-2

Game gidenine

Math × Worksheet-13 Mor Gnit-1

Mor Gnit-2

worksheets-48

play-1

chart-7

Contd…

Social × Worksheet or

figure

Story-4

Figurre-8

Science × Worksheet or

figure

figure

Art × Worksheet

or figure

Song-6

Worksheet or

figure

Song-6

Worksheet-2

Song-6

Photograph 4: Some subjects of Rajbanshi reading materials

Photograph 5: Subjects of English reading materials

6. MLE awareness among Rajbanshi speaking people

• Rajbanshi people seem to be aware of MLE programme and its importance. They have offered free land, send their children to MLE schools and help preparing reading materials based on local contents.

• To elicit Rajbanshi people’s responses to MLE, a question was asked, “ what language do you prefer for your children’s medium of instruction at primary level?”, almost all the male respondents (36 = 100%) responded that they would want their children to study in their mother tongue as a medium of instruction at primary level.

Contd…

• Out of 36 female respondents, 94% responded that they

would want their children to study in their mother tongue.

• Whereas, only 6% responded that they would want their

children in the English language as a medium of

instruction at primary level.

Table 4: The preference for medium of instruction at primary level

What language do

you prefer for your

children’s medium of

instruction at primary

level?

Total respondents: 72

Male

[n=36]

Female

[n=36]

1 Mother tongue 36 (100%) 34 (94%)

2 English × 2 (6%)

Source: LinSun field study, 2013

Contd..

7. Education through Rajbanshi and Nepali languages: a comparision

• It would be ideal to compare the two sets of schools -Rajbanshi and Nepali/English medium schools with a view to finding out their relative importance with respect to educational achievements.

• Presently, this is not feasible as Rajbanshi MLE schools have only been recently established.

• Some insights about the relative merit of education through the medium of mother tongue were drawn from a comparison between the use of mother tongue with another language (L2) used as subject of instruction at the same levels.

• As shown in a recent report (Report 2013), students have better achievements in mother tongue language skills than in L2 language skills.

Contd…

• Similarly, it has been found that the materials in Nepali and English are better understood if they are explained through the medium of mother tongue than through the medium of L2.

• Under the MLE environment, children learn quickly because they can talk in their MT about concrete everyday things in a face-to-face situation.

• They attend their classes more regularly as they feel more homely through their interaction in their home language.

• They are familiar with their culture and local settings.

Photograph 6: Some creative figuresMade by KG students

Made by G1 students

Photograph 7: Some creative figures and stories

Made by G2 students

8. Challenges

• The curricula used at Rajbanshi MLE schools (except

Aamgachhi) have not been approved by the government.

As a result, it may create a problem for children to

pursue their further school education.

• Rajbanshi MLE schools have just begun functioning and

they are not equipped with all the required reading

materials for all the levels. Hence, they are mixing up-

some subjects in mother tongue and other subjects in

L2, which may give rise to undesirable consequences.

9. Conclusion

• The establishment of Rajbanshi MLE schools is a

welcome step. It may prove to be a success story and

help advocacy for adopting and implementing MLE in

other languages of Nepal.

• However, there is a need to convince the government

and other stakeholders for extending their support for

consolidating the MLE framework in the country.

References

• Central Bureau of Statistics. 2012. National Population and Housing Census 2011: National Report. Kathmandu: National Planning Commission.

• Eppele, John & Jonathan D. Grimes 2001. The Rajbanshi of Nepal: A Sociolinguistic Study. Unpublished manuscript.

• Eppele, M. John, Paul Lewis, Dan Raj Regmi and Yogendra P. Yadava (eds.) 2012.Ethnologue: Languages of Nepal, Kathmandu: Central Department of Linguistics and SIL International.

• NNLPI, (2012/2013). A report of Rajbanshi multilingual Education Programs.

Thank you