What are the programme goals?
The first goal is that Rajbanshi students will integrate successfully into the government’ s education system in primary school and achieve a good education.
Another goal is that this programme will provide a model for other language communities that want MTB MLE.
Which agencies or organizations support the programme?
The School Management Committee of each MTB MLE school is responsible for the daily operation of the school programme and for supporting their teachers.
Local communities donated the land for their schools.
The District Education Office was not involved in implementation but allows MTB MLE in the three district schools.
The Nepali National Languages Preservation Institute( NNLPI) supports programme implementation.
Tribhuvan University Department of Linguistics provides linguistic support. SIL International provides technical support.
Does the programme have policy support?
Nepal’ s national education policy allows for the implementation of MLE schools.
When did the programme begin and how did it grow?
The MTB MLE approach was not widely known or practiced in the government education system when the Rajbanshi MTB MLE programme was initiated. Therefore, the plan was to implement the programme in three new community schools that were established for this purpose. Advocacy and programme planning began in 2009.
The programme team realized that the five-year government primary education provision was too short a time for early Grade MLE students to gain sufficient oral and written proficiency in Rajbanshi( L1), Nepali( L2) and English( L3) 8 to achieve the government’ s learning objectives. For that reason, the MLE programme added a year of kindergarten so that Rajbanshi students learn reading and writing in their mother tongue before they enter Grade 1.
Classes began in 2010. Three schools are now included in the pilot programme. After the pilot is completed, the MTB MLE approach will be adapted and extended to other suitable language groups in Nepal that request it.
Booklet for Case Studies
8 L1: mother tongue and first school language; L2: second school language; L3: third school language
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