Developing Policy for Medium of Instruction and Languages for Education (MILE) in Multilingual Nepal 5th International Conference on Language and Education: Sustainable Development Through Multilingual Education 19-21 October 2016 Bangkok, Thailand
1. Introduction and Background Prof. Yogendra Yadava (20 + 10 mins) 2. MLE in Practice: Successful Projects, Weak Synergies? Dr. Sadananda Kadel (20 + 10 mins) 3 . (a) Political Factors (b) Way Forward: A Roadmap for Change? Amanda Seel (20+10 mins)
1. Background to the Study Strong rationales for a ‘trilingual’ approach using MTB-MLE Improved learning, Language literacy and revitalisation, multilingualism and cognitive outcomes an individual, for disadvantaged community and children national resource Equitable, Peace-building and sustainable social cohesion development through more through equitable access to- empowerment and and benefits of- participation of quality relevant marginalised groups education
Rationale for the MILE Study • Commitment in principle to ‘tri-lingual’ approach - MT plus Nepali plus English (i.e. 2-3 languages for each child); through Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) • Whilst mapping the language situation onto these constitutional and legal provisions they seem to be conducive to multilingual approaches. • However, there has been a lack of any more explicit plan and policy to implement them. • Vague stipulations have been open to interpretation. Similarly, the constitutional provision regarding the use of mother tongues in education is ambiguous : as a medium or a subject of instruction?
• 2015 marked the conclusion of the School Sector Reform Programme , which included some MLE pilots, development of a National Early Grade Reading Programme and progress on equity and inclusive education strategies. Developing the sequel School Sector Development Programme (SSDP) provided opportunity to develop a more coherent, explicit and comprehensive national policy. • Hence, the study on Medium of Instruction and Languages for Education ( MILE ) which took place Feb-June 2015 to inform that policy
Rights and Legal Frameworks for Language in Education • Nepal signatory to several International Rights Frameworks with commitments to use of MTs in basic education • Prior to 1990: Nepal’s national education system: based on the concept of ‘ One Nation, One Language ’, – Nepali identified as the national and official language as well as medium and subject of education. • After 1990: the reinstatement of multi-party democracy all mother tongues spoken in Nepal constitutionally recognized as ‘national languages’ • though Nepali alone has been practically used as the ‘official language.’
Language in education has been further addressed through various government Acts: • Report of National Language Policy Recommendation Commission’s (1994) recommendations: – ‘ transitional multilingual education’ using the mother tongue as medium of instruction in ‘ schools with monolingual context’ gradually switching to Nepali as LWC first and then to English as an international language – ‘Nepali as the MoI in ‘schools with predominantly multilingual context’. – Non-formal education in MT • Local Self-Government Act (1998): – the local Village Development Committees and municipalities responsible for supporting schools /communities to manage primary education in the mother tongue.
• Seventh Amendment (2001) to the Education Act • EFA Goal 7: ensuring the right of indigenous people and linguistic minorities to basic and primary education through mother tongue – Nepali and mother tongues as MoI at the primary level
Constitution of Nepal (2015) – 7 federal provinces with their own official languages along with Nepali – upholds rights to education in MT and recognises all the mother tongues spoken in Nepal as its national languages • Formation of Language Commission – as a constitutional body to recommend the use of mother tongues for use in education on the basis of their feasibility apart from other linguistic measures
Sociolinguistic complexity i. the Census enumerations of languages 44 (1952/54), 36 (1961), 17 (1971), 18 (1981), 31 (1991), 92 (2001), 123 (2011) ii. 140 (Noonan 2005) iii. 124 ( Ethnologue 2012) – Reason Ethnocultural and linguistic awareness following the democratic movements in Nepal vis-à-vis assimilation
Map: Languages of Nepal 11
Genetic affiliations – four language families • Indo-European, • Sino-Tibetan, • Austro-Asiatic, • Dravidian, – a language isolate consisting of a single language without any genetic relationship with other languages, e.g. Kusunda. – Most of these languages belong to two language families: • Indo-European – Indo-Aryan - nearly 82.06 % • Sino-Tibetan –Tibeto-Burman – 17.3 % – Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian – marginalized- less than 1% – Kusunda : just 28 speakers. i. ‘major’ languages - 19 – almost 96%. ii. ‘minor’ languages -104 – 4% 12
Language and ethnicity ❖ 125 castes and indigenous groups speak more than 123 languages as their mother tongues (CBS 2011). ❖ Relation: i. one-to-one relation, e.g. Raute ii. one-to-many relation, e.g. Nepali iii. many-to-one, Newar - Cultural variations
Implications of sociolinguistic factors for education • Nepali language is an LWC and most widely used MoI – the largest number of MT speakers = 46.64%(almost 12 million speakers) – 32.77% second-language speakers – Understood by total = 79.41% – Official status – Rich and long tradition of written literature – Justifiably used as MoI in school education ➢ But not evenly distributed: Mountains Hills Tarai Total 4.16 27.29 13.19 44.64
• A group of languages are readily amenable for use as MoI in the early years (as an MT-base, including literacy) : • 10 Indo-Aryan and 8 Tibeto-Burmese languages >100,000 speakers • Cross-border languages: – smaller but geographically concentrated groups with their ‘kin states’ (Gorter 2007) – amenable to language use in education, e.g. Limbu, Tamang, Maithili, Bhojpuri, etc. with support from their kin states • The CDC and other agencies have developed MT-based reading materials in 23 languages – (but to differing points e.g. G1+2 only, G1-3, G1-5) as an optional subject – Devanagari script adapted • Nepali Sign Language developed and used by 20,000 people, but has 200,000 potential users
• A large group of languages will require creative approaches to be used as MoIs – 74 < 10,000 speakers – many with oral (not literate) traditions – linguistically heterogeneous school catchment communities (sometimes linked to migration) – language shift (linked to urbanization, migration, schooling) – Some are being supported through digitized language documentation initiatives including lexicon, grammar, reading materials, script, e.g. Baram
• There are relatively few fluent speakers of English – 2000 MT speakers – 3% speak English as L2 – Gender (male) and urban biases in English language skills and opportunities thus the sociolinguistic data gives no grounds for contemplating use of English as an MoI in the early years, especially in rural areas Please see handout for further sociolinguistic information. THANK YOU! Any Questions or Comments?
2. MLE in practice: Successful Projects, Weak Synergies? The Sample Districts and Schools Development Far-West Mid-West West Central Eastern Region Ecological Zone Mountains Rasuwa (4 schools) Hills Dadeldhura Palpa Kathmandu Dhankuta (2 schools) (2 schools) valley (1 school) Tanahaun (7 schools) (1 school) Tarai Kanchanpur Bardiya Kapilvastu Dhanusha Jhapa (1 school) (1 school) (2 schools) (1 school) (1 school) Banke Sunsari (1 school) (1 school)
Criteria for Field Research / Sample Geographical coverage : 3 ecological belts and 5 development regions • Linguistic coverage : 4 language families, major and minor languages, • some endangered languages, different kinds of community language contexts (homogeneous, mix, varieties of issues and initiatives) School coverage : • 1. Community schools 2. Institutional (private English MoI) 3. MTB-MLE pilot schools (Finland supported program) and other MLE initiatives 4. Faith based schools – Gumba, Gurukul, Madrasa, and Vihar 5. Schools that included users of Nepali Sign Language and Braille scripts 6. Preprimary/ECED, primary , lower secondary, secondary and higher secondary
Some Examples of Status of Medium of Instruction in Early Grades Community Schools District School School types MoI Previously MoI Current Jhapa Rastriya Ekata P. Community (MTB Santhal and English Haldibari MLE pilot) Rajbanshi Dhankuta Deurali LS, Santang Community (MTB Athpariya Nepali (Athpariya- MLE pilot) subject) Sunsari Sharada P., Simariya Community (MTB Uranw, Maithili Uranw, Maithili MLE pilot) and Tharu and Tharu Rasuwa Bhinsen LS, Thulo Community (MTB Tamang Tamang (G-1) Bharkhu MLE pilot) Subject (G-2+) Saraswai LS, Thade Community (MTB Tamang Tamang (G-1) MLE pilot) Subject (G-2+) Palpa Nawa Jagriti P., Community (MTB Magar Magar Chidipani MLE pilot) Kanchanpur Rastriya LS Community (MTB Rana Tharu Rana Tharu MLE pilot) Dadeldhura Bhumiraj P., Bagchaur Community Doteli English Tanahun Nirmal HS, Damauli Community Nepali English
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