Exclusion of Minority Mother Tongues from the Classroom Context

Abstract

This paper examines language related constraints faced by the linguistic minority children in the early grades of schooling. It also attempts to explore the factors contributing for exclusion of minority mother tongues from the classroom context through an ethnographic study carried out in Chitwan district of Nepal. The methodology includes in-depth interviews, life history interviews, language diaries, focus group discussions and participant observation in school and at families. The field data reveal that linguistic minority children enter into early childhood development/pre-primary class annexed to the primary school at the age of three without much exposure to Nepali, a dominant language to be used for education and official purposes. They are compelled to face hostile and unwelcoming learning environments due to imposition of non-home language in the classroom transactions. This situation has exacerbated unwillingness among children for attending classes and consequently led to high absenteeism. Interestingly, despite provision of mother tongue as the medium of instruction or subject in the first step of basic education in the National Curriculum Framework of Nepal, School Management Committees are increasingly replacing mother tongue or local subject by English as an additional subject at the local level. The major factors contributing for exclusion of minority languages include parental demand for English despite their love and affinity to home language, low number of students from the linguistic minorities in the classrooms, and lack of Nepal specific evidences on impact of mother tongue education based on research.