Helping Children Learn Nepali

Chandra Kala, 20, is a community volunteer at a reading camp situated in Tingharawa in Kapilvastu district in western Nepal. She understands the frustration of having lessons delivered in the national language, a language which she did not understand well when she first started school.

“Had I received the same opportunities as the children in the reading camp, I would have achieved a higher level of learning. I struggled to understand the meaning of books written in the Nepali language. Now I support the younger generation in my village, helping their transitions from the Tharu and Awadhi languages to Nepali,” says Chandra.

Fewer than 100 Tharu households make their home at Tingharawa, where they continue to practice their indigenous culture. The mother tongue of these families is Tharu, though they are also all fluent in Awadhi. It is difficult for these children to comprehend texts in Nepali, their third language. This is problematic because there are very few books available, other than those written in the national language.

Children from Tingharawa have to walk over a mile through the forest to reach the nearest school, Shree Kisan Primary School at Champapur, a Multi-lingual Education Pilot school, which helps children to develop their reading skills, with their first language as the medium of instruction.

Chandra’s support is extremely beneficial to these children. Every Saturday, at least 27 girls and boys from Tingharawa gather in Chandra’s house to attend a reading camp. Save the Children, in association with a local partner organization, Kalika Self-reliance Social Center introduced the reading camp in the village in 2013 and has supported the children’s learning ever since. At the camp, children are provided with reading materials in both the Nepali and the Tharu languages. Until recently, most of the books, while age-appropriate for each child’s level, had been fiction. Thanks to the Students Rebuild Literacy Challenge, the reading camp recently received non-fiction books and the children can now spend their time poring over texts that not only help them improve their command of the Nepali language but also add to their knowledge.

“While reading Nepali texts, if the children encounter some difficult words, I help them pronounce the words and also help them understand the meanings using pictures and games. I also translate the meanings into Tharu,” – Chandra Tharu, Facilitator of reading camp in Barkulpur village of Kapilvastu district, Nepal

“While children in the lower grades face problems in decoding the Nepali books, the pictures help them understand what they’re reading,” Chandra explains. “For example, we live on the plains in a hot climate, but the children can now learn how snow piles up in cold places by looking at the pictures.”

“Children in the fourth and fifth grades are able to get through these non-fiction books without a problem. They understand the text. If they have a problem, I am on hand to help them using the techniques that I learned from attending Save the Children’s training,” she adds.

For Chandra, who lives with her parents and family of 12, Saturday’s reading camp has become a source of great pride. “Although it is quite a challenge to make every reading camp meeting interesting, it’s fun to sit with the children from my own village every week and learn of their achievements and progress in learning,” she concludes.

Photos courtesy Bijay Gajmer, Save the Children