Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) in Nepal A Framework in the Context of Federalism Submitted to Department of Education (DoE)/Ministry of Education (MoE) Kathmandu, Nepal and Executive Office USAID/Nepal U. S. Embassy G.P.O. Box 295 Maharajgunj Kathmandu, Nepal Submitted by: Transcend Vision Nepal (TVN) Pvt. Ltd. Sinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal Post Box No: 4197, Tel: +977 1 4489247 Email: [email protected] July 30, 2017 Analytical Report Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) in Nepal A Framework in the Context of Federalism Based on Six Regional Consultation Workshops and One Central Level Seminar Prepared by Professor Dr. Yogendra P. Yadava (Team Leader) Acknowledgements The MILE team of Transcend Vision Nepal (TVN) would like to express its sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone who contributed to the preparation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) in Nepal: A Framework. First, Mr. Babu Ram Paudel, Director General, Department of Education (DoE) deserves our thanks for his interest and support in completing this study. Similarly, we are grateful to Mr. Mitra Nath Gartaula Director and Mr. Narayan Subedi, Deputy Director, MLE Unit, DoE for their constant help in completing this task. We very much appreciate the academic inputs from Dr. Lava Deo Awasthi, Chairman, Language Commission Nepal. Mrs. Jannie Kwok- Director/Education Development Office/USAID Nepal has always been available for providing her feedbacks on improving the earlier drafts of this framework. We also thank Professor Dr. Basudev Kafle, TU/Nepal, Professor Dr. Vishnu Singh Rai- TU/Nepal, Prof. Dr. Dan Raj Regmi- Head of Language Department/TU Nepal, Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary/MoE, and Mrs. Jayanti Subba from USAID/Nepal for their insightful comments for improving the draft. Above all, our thanks are due to all the participants at the six regional workshops and one central level seminar. Finally, we kindly express great thanks to all the members of the TVN for helping the MILE team constantly with rapporteuring and logistical support while organizing all workshops, and central level seminar. Professor Dr. Yogendra Prasad Yadava Maya Rai Kumar P. Adhikari Abbreviations and Acronyms DEO District Education Office / Officer DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) DoE Department of Education DPs Development Partners ECED Early Childhood Education and Development EMIS Education Management Information System LWC Language of Wider Communication MILE Medium of Instruction and Languages for Education (this study) MLE Multilingual Education MoE Ministry of Education MoI Medium of Instruction MT Mother Tongue MTB-MLE Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education NEGRP National Early Grade Reading Program SMC School Management Committee SSDP School Sector Development Plan / Program SSRP School Sector Reform Plan / Program ToR Terms of Reference UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund USAID United States Agency for International Development Definitions All definitions from Jessica Ball (UNESCO, 2010), unless otherwise indicated. (Ball, J. Analytical review commissioned by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Basic Education Division: Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds: mother tongue based bilingual or multilingual education in the early years. University of Victoria, 2010. ) Additive bilingualism: A practice that encourages acquisition of the mother tongue as the primary language, with sequenced introduction of a second language as an additional (not replacement) language. Bilingual/ multilingual education: Formal use of at least two languages as the medium of instruction, generally including literacy. Dialect: A manner of speaking a language that varies according to region or social group. Foreign language: A language that is not spoken in the immediate environment of the learner. Heritage language: The traditional/ historic language of an ethno-linguistic group (whether or not the group- or some individuals of that background) still uses that language. Immersion education: A model in which the learner is completely ‘immersed’ for most or all of the day in a learning program that solely uses- but is designed to support acquisition of- an unknown language. Collier (quoted in Ball, 2010) suggests that this works well to support the revival of heritage languages, but when used to introduce minority speakers to a majority language it can hinder academic learning. Interdependence hypothesis: A theory that postulates that competence in L2 is developed on the basis of an intact and well-developed L1. Language-in-Education (LiE) A ‘catch all’ term used in this study for summarising all language-in education issues, including the use of languages as MoIs and for informal teaching-learning; and the teaching of languages as subjects when these are to become an MoI or are heritage / religious languages. Language-in-Education policy : Legislation on and stipulations of practice pertaining to languages as media of instruction, languages of literacy used in education and other areas of language use and learning in the education system. Language of Wider Communication (LWC) / Lingua Franca: A language in common use for different ethno-linguistic groups to communicate within a region or locality. Medium of Instruction (MoI): A language used for teaching and learning significant parts (or all) of the school curriculum. Mother Tongue (H ome language/ L1): The language that is spoken in the home and learned first from primary caregivers and has become the natural instrument of thought and communication. Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual / Multilingual Education (MTB-BLE /MTB-MLE): MT based instruction combined with sequenced introduction of L2 and L3 as additive, implying the continued use of MT and its conscious use to support acquisition of L2 and L3. Multilingual education (MLE): Whilst this often is used interchangeably with MTB-BLE /MLE, the term can also be used more broadly to describe any system where more than one language is used as a medium of instruction. (In this regards, it can be observed that most schools in Nepal employ MLE to some extent). Official language: A language that is given special legal status in a particular country or territory. Typically, the official language is the one used in a nation’s courts, parliament and administration. Orthography / writing system: The graphic representation of a spoken language using a specific script (alphabet or characters) in a standardised form. MILE: Ways forward for Education Policy, Planning and Practice In Nepal Script - the graphic form of the units of a writing system. Subtractive bilingual environments : Environments that consciously or otherwise encourage acquisition of L2 in a way that results in the loss of L1, resulting in monolingual proficiency in L2 (often a minority language) but the loss of the mother tongue Transitional bilingual education or multilingual education: Differently from MTB-BLE /MLE, this implies that learners pass through a planned transition and that L1 is phased out as L2 is phased in. Tables Table 1: A comparison of census enumerations of languages (1952/54 - 2011) Table 2: Population by the language families of mother tongues (1952/54-2011) Table 3: Indicative Language Typology of Schools Table 4: Recommended Approach for Identifying the MT Base and Approach to Nepali in ECED and Early Grades According to Schools’ Sociolinguistic Types Table 5: Recommended Approach for Selecting Options for English as Subject or MoI Table 6: Recommended MoIs at ECED and Grades 1-12 (showing suggested amendments to the 2014 draft MoI Road Map) Executive Summary The MTB MLE Framework aims to present a design for managing and implementing mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) for children’s better educational achievement in federal Nepal. It has been drawn upon the previous studies in this field (especially, Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Implementation Guidelines (2009), Medium of Instruction Roadmap (2014) and Medium of Instruction and Languages for Education (MILE) : Ways Forward for Education Policy, Planning and Practice in Nepal (2015) and the inputs received from the regional workshops and the national level seminar organized to disseminate these studies. This framework mainly deals with the following issues related to MTB MLE in Nepal: Concept : The term MTB MLE is often used to refer to the educational program using learners’ mother tongue (i.e. first or home language) and two or more additional languages. In Nepalese context focus has been on MTB MLE program wherein learners’ mother tongue has been conceived as MoI and other languages (such as Nepali, State official language(s), English, heritage and religious languages) as language subjects. Rationale : “Since effective teaching depends on clear and understandable communication, the language of instruction is at the heart of any learning process. For this reason, mother tongue-based instruction is crucial to providing children with easy access to education and to enabling them to participate in learning processes according to their evolving capacities.” (UNESCO 2007). In addition, various studies on cognitive development and second language learning also provide evidence in support of MTB MLE. There exist sufficient amount of studies which argue that minority children’s academic success significantly depends on how