MLE Practices in Nepal:

A case of Rajbanshi

Surya Prasad Yadav

yadavsurya94@gmail.com

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 Processes Nov. 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 0

15 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

30 0

26

0

15 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

30 33 16 17

30 12

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 figures Made 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