This document summarizes a presentation on multilingual education practices for the Rajbanshi language in Nepal. It discusses how three schools in the Jhapa district have begun using Rajbanshi as the primary language of instruction, with Nepali and English taught as subjects. While this approach has been well-received by the Rajbanshi community, challenges remain in fully implementing the multilingual education model and gaining government approval of curricula. The presentation concludes that support is needed to further develop resources and consolidate multilingual education policies to benefit other language communities in Nepal.

1. 4th International Conference on Language and Education:
Multilingual Education for All in Asia and the Pacific –
Policies, Practices and Processes
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
Nov. 6, 2013

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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).

5. 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).

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Photograph 1: Aamgachhi School

10. Photograph 2: Chilhara School

11. Photograph 3: Harira School

12. 30
Figure 1: Aamgachhi School
0
26
0
15 11
30
26
13 13
30
13
4 9
30
14
7 7
Expected numbers No. of enrollments boys girls
KG G1 G2 G3

13. Figure 2: Chilhara School
30
0
26
0
15
11
30
26
13
13
30
13
4
9
30
14
7 7
Expected numbers No. of enrollments boys girls
KG G1 G2 G3

14. Figure 3: Harira School
30 33
16 17
30
12
7 5
30
15
7 8
30
12
6 6
Expected
numbers
No. of
enrollements
boys girls
KG G1 G2 G3

15. Table 1: The aggregate enrollments in the three schools
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

16. • 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.

17. 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
Rajbanshi Rajbanshi Rajbanshi/
(Medium of
Nepali
instruction)
Nepali/
Rajbanshi

18. 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.

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Photograph 4: Some subjects of Rajbanshi
reading materials

23. Photograph 5: Subjects of English reading
materials

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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..

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. Photograph 6: Some creative figures
Made by KG students
Made by G1 students

30. Photograph 7: Some creative figures and stories
Made by G2 students

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. Thank you