Tamang as a Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in Nepal: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

Nepal is a multilingual country in which most of the languages of indigenous minority communities are on the brink of extinction. Against this backdrop, it attempted to explore the lived experiences of teachers, experts, and policy makers concerning the prospects of implementing Tamang as a mother tongue-based multilingual education (MT-MLE); to identify the challenges faced in enforcing Tamang as an MTB-MLE among Tamang-speaking learners and to explore the linguistic, cultural, social, and educational advantages of using Tamang as mother tongue-based in Tamang-dominated schools. A descriptive phenomenological research design was adopted for this study, using a sample of eight participants: four teachers, two experts, and two policymakers. The participants' lived reflections were gathered through in depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed and interpreted using content analysis. This study revealed a dearth of appropriate teaching and learning materials, a lack of financial support from Nepal's local, provincial, and federal governments, and challenges in implementing mother tongue-based multilingual education. In addition, the prospects of this study were the motivation of the learners through local teaching and learning materials, the reduction in dropout rates and increased learning, the promotion of cognitive maturity, and support for socialization and self-identity through the MT-MLE, which is inevitable for preserving the endangered indigenous languages in Nepal.