Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

how to read and write which helps them easily adjust in school. After going to school for ayear, I think our children will start to teach us. As a result, we can start to read and write in theofficial language, Nepali, as well.”This shows that literacy beneficiaries have been critically aware of everyday activities. Besides, thebeneficiaries have been aware of the fact that language choice is their basic right and it enables themto understand and learn important things such as sanitary practices within the household environment,family planning, and other health issues. Likewise, NFE literacy programme beneficiaries have felt proudof becoming “literate.”Impact on Learner ParticipationPeople can obviously learn faster and learn more if they get an opportunity to do so in their own language.In Tharu NFE literacy programmes, participants were given the opportunity to learn not only in theirown mother tongue, but also at their own pace. Therefore, multiple teaching/learning approaches wereused to address the needs and interests of the literacy participants. These approaches included smallgroup discussions, an observation tour, REFLECT, and analytical problem posing/thematic discussions.The participants of this program were very much interested in the lessons, especially on topics thatinformed them about their culture and traditions. No learners dropped out of the classes, and therewas increasing demand from both within and outside the community for additional and advanced levelliteracy classes.The other impact of the literacy class was observed during the monitoring and supervision system.Community elders and the husbands of the female literacy participants often came to observe the classand provide moral support to the participants. This also served to encourage the learners. Local officialsalso felt that this development was more beneficial from the standpoint of institutionalization of themonitoring and supervision process at the community level..A Participant’s PerspectivePhul Maya Chaudhari lives at Basahi village. She is a married, 35-year-old woman with fourchildren. She said, “I was interested in joining the Tharu language literacy class because I couldeasily understand everything. Particularly, it taught me how to read and write in the Tharulanguage. Now I can write my name and a few words and sentences as well. I am also able tosolve simple numerical problems, which helps me to increase my knowledge. Now I am muchsmarter than I was before. Nobody can cheat me when I go to the market, either to sell or buythings in the village. Furthermore, the Tharu songs used for teaching and learning helped meto understand faster than any other teaching methods. In my experience, this mother tongueliteracy class helped people like me to gain additional knowledge and skills, both of which areuseful in improving my life and livelihoods.”In summary, the impact of the mother tongue literacy programme can be recorded as(a) Tharu mother tongue literacy beneficiaries developed the habit of fast reading and writing and alsolearnt about life and livelihood-related issues.[ 140 ]