The government plan to provide mother tongue-based multilingual education to the school children has failed to succeed.

The government had hoped that teaching in native language would encourage student enrolment, but the result was completely opposite. 

A majority of Tharu students have left school since the programme was adopted in Dang, Bardiya and Banke districts in 2008. As a result, the schools had to stop the programme.

In Dang, 42 schools had started teaching in Tharu language when the native language education was first introduced. Today, only Shankar Secondary School, of Pipari, teaches in Tharu.

Ram Kumar Chaudhary, the school headmaster, said they have been teaching in Tharu language only to fifth graders.

“We had to limit the native language teaching to a single grade because it was not received well both by students and the parents. It was difficult for our teachers as well,” he said.     

Organisations that had been supporting the programme have also stopped funding the schools.

Dev Mani Chaudhary of the District Education Office said English and Nepali language teachings are what parents want for their children. 

“When the native language teaching method was introduced in Dang, more than 2,300 children were enrolled in schools. But the charm quickly faded,” Dev Mani said.

In Bardiya, 25 schools have stopped conducting classes in Tharu language due to lack of textbooks and syllabus. Trainer of Tharu language Chyamu Chaudhary said only four community schools are teaching students in Tharu language in the district. About 51 percent of the population in Bardiya are Tharus.

In Banke, none of the schools have adopted native language teaching. Source person of Binauna and Matehiya Trilokinath Maurya said they could not start the programme even after training the teachers due to lack of syllabus.

(Reported by Durgalal KC in Dang, Kamal Panthi in Bardiya and Thakursingh Tharu in Banke)