Mother Tongue Education: The
Foundation of Tharu Children Learning in School
Shree Ram Chaudhary
Shree Ram Chaudhary, center,
visits a classroom of Tharu primary
school students in Nepal, who find it difficult to learn
when they
are taught in a language that is not their mother tongue. |
There are some concepts which view identity only
as a outlook, but one’s identity is not just an abstract sentiment,
for the lack of an identity affects the physical life of people. In
Nepal, the struggle of the ethnic people for their right to their
identity is not just related to saving their language and culture;
it is also related to the lifestyle and future of the people. It is
for this reason that it is not relevant to put the demands of
identity inside the box of raw sentiment.
I have been observing, for instance, the school life of the Tharu
children in Nepal since my childhood in Dang District. More than 32
percent of the people speak the Tharu language, but no schools have
taught in the Tharu language in the past. There are many obstacles
to learning for these ethnic children. On one hand, the schools are
far from the home of the Tharu students; on the other hand, the
language of instruction is Nepali. Consequently, the Tharu children
have gone to school but couldn’t understand anything. How could they
learn? Naturally, the schools could not attract the children to
attend. One year the children went to school, and the next year they
dropped out.
The same learning environment exists in the other ethnic communities
of Nepal as well. There is a vast difference between the Nepali and
Tharu languages. How can the ethnic children compete properly? There
is little wonder that these children leave the education system in
Nepal prematurely without finishing their education. As a result,
they become domestic child labor for their own families or others.
It is the overall reality of life of ethnic children in Nepal.
Because of the language barrier, the children of Nepal’s ethnic
communities are rarely found in the country’s schools.
The effects of children dropping out of school at an early age
contributes a negative impact on the national life of the country.
The data of the Education Ministry indicates that the dropout rate
of ethnic children is far too high in Nepal. If 10 Tharu children
and 10 Nepali-speaking children enrolled in the same school, for
instance, at least nine Nepali-speaking children will complete high
school while only one or two Tharu children will complete their high
school education. When Tharu children drop out of high school, how
then can they enroll in university and get a higher education? This
example explains why students from the Bramin and Chhetri castes
normally get a university degree. They can then easily get jobs as a
government officer or work with non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), including international NGOs. The employment choices of
Tharu children who drop out from school early are to become porters,
unskilled workers and daily laborers to earn a living. It thus
creates a large economic gap between Nepali-speaking and
non-Nepali-speaking children.
The latest data revels that only 52 percent of the people in the
country speak Nepali (the Khash language). Consequently, for 48
percent of the people in Nepal, their mother tongue is one of the
country’s more than 120 ethnic languages that is much different than
Nepali. There are many intelligent children among this 48 percent of
the country’s population, but their intelligence is never nurtured
due to the language barrier. It is unfortunate for the country and
its development. As a result, only 52 percent of Nepal’s human
resources have been receiving the knowledge and skills that they
need. Although the government has declared that education is for all
children, this declaration is not sufficient.
Now the people of Nepal are beginning to raise their voice for the
federal government to respect their identity. One conclusion of this
push for respect for everyone’s identity is to give opportunities to
children to study in their own mother tongue. Studying in one’s own
language is not just about one’s self-interest and rights, for it
impacts people’s lives and choices; it creates dignified and
conscious citizens of the State. Without this right, people become
unskilled laborers or even criminals. This potentially poor outcome
is why the demands of one’s identity are not only for cultural
rights: they are correlated with the economic and political rights
of Nepal’s ethnic communities.
* Shree Ram Chaudhary is the program manager of the Society for
Participatory Cultural Education (SPACE) in the Bardiya District of
Nepal. He attended the first School of Peace (SOP) that Interfaith
Cooperation Forum (ICF) held in Bangalore, India, in 2006.
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