Our Stories

Home language in school makes students more confident

Samaya Tamang, who has been active in implementing MTB-MLE as a teacher in Gothen Devi Basic School in Tipling since 2017, testified: “In our school, now the young students can speak confidently in front of others. Even in front of people from the district quarters.” Samaya attributed this to activities such as listening stories and

Child-centered teaching — from theory to practice

Anan Tamang teaches English to early-grade students at Jharlang Basic School, which joined the MTB-MLE program in April 2022. After the training, Anan shared that he had read about child-centered strategies in his bachelor course, but did not know how to apply this idea. He said: “For me the advantage of the training was that

More teachers want to use the mother tongue kindergarten materials

“I never got such a good learning environment in my school life!” exclaimed Jenita Tamang, who is a kindergarten teacher of the Singala Secondary School in Jharlang. Excited about the good impact of using children’s mother tongue in instruction and the contextualized materials, Jenita advocated the materials to kindergarten teachers from other schools in the

Reading for fun helps students learn

Starting with the school year 2019, two MTB-MLE schools in Tipling have been introduced short story books in Western Tamang and Nepali, of different difficulty levels, to help children develop a reading habit. Kamal Tamang, the principal from Shree Gothen Devi Basic School in Tipling, shared that he sometimes brings the story books to his

Teaching practice makes a difference

”I attended many kindergarten trainings before, but I did not get opportunities for practice. I simply participated, without much interaction. When I attended the MTB-MLE kindergarten training the first time, it was a totally new experience for me. I enjoyed the training because I learned by actually practicing teaching using the different MTB-MLE materials. The

Happy to go to school

“Because the teacher uses Tamang in the class and even the textbooks are in Tamang, my daughter goes happily to school, without being anxious.", exclaimed Sangita Tamang Neupane, who’s daughter Ayushma is in Grade 1 in Dongden School in Tipling. "At home she is sharing confidently in our language about what she has learned at

Understanding makes students active in classroom

”I attended many ECD trainings before, but I have never heard about MTB-MLE approach and materials.", said Ruth Tamang, who is an ECD teacher in Singala Secondary school in Jharlang. "Now, by observing and working together with my colleague who got the MTB-MLE training, I realize that this is very effective for small children and

A NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR CHILDREN

While participating in the Western Tamang MTB-MLE awareness program, Kanchhi Maya Tamang (45), a mother from the Jharlang village, exclaimed: “Now my dream has become reality. That means my children have the opportunity to learn to read in their own language.” Maya Tamang went on to say that the MTB-MLE program will really help to

Transferring writing skills across languages

Prabin Tamang, Math teacher of Chyampra Devi Secondary School, participated in the Grade 2 Western Tamang mother tongue language subject material production workshop in Oct 2018. At the end of the workshop, he was excited to see Tamang children reading materials being developed by Tamang people and he could be a part of it. He

Tamang in school is a good opportunity for our students!

During the 5-day teacher training in April 2018, The headteacher of Chymra secondary school in Sertung, Bahadur B.K. was inspired and ready to embrace the MTB-MLE program in his school. Although the headteacher is not a Tamang speaker himself, he said: “Learning in their mother tongue is a good, unexpected opportunity for Tamang small children.

When love goes beyond language boundary

Miss Sangita Tamang Neupane is one of the kindergarten teachers from Shree Dongden Devi Secondary School, where the Western Tamang MTB-MLE programme is implemented. She came to the Tipling village eight years ago after getting married to her Western Tamang husband. Her love for her husband extends to the Western Tamang language and the community.

I can speak Nepali now

When I was in KG class I could not speak any Nepali, but I could learn and understand because teacher taught us using Rajbanshi language. As I progressed up the grades, I could gradually speak Nepali. Whenever there are guests visiting the school, I could speak to them in Nepali easily now. ~ Shrijana Rajbanshi,

Education and hope

Rishidev community is living in a Rajbanshi village near Bishnu School. They speak Rajbanshi language but their culture is different from Rajbanshi. Most of the people from this community are illiterate. They did not care about education for their children. Every year they enrolled their children in government school in order to get subsidy from

Our children enjoy going to MLE school

‘Even though Harira MLE School is far away from our village, we still send our children to the MLE School. We see the difference between MLE School and government school in our own villages. Our children learn many things from MLE School. Most important is that they enjoy going to MLE School. Our children need

I never absent from class

Merajkansar (20) is a young Muslim lady. When she was young, there was no school in her village. She didn't have chance to study. She enrolled in the class immediately once she heard about the program. She is very eager to learn and grasps every moment to study.

My dream comes true

Laljati (60) is the oldest student in Khaling literacy class in 2003. After she completed the course, she wrote a letter to NNLPI. "Thank you so much for conducting a literacy class for us. In the past, I could not read and write. After the class, I still cannot write a good letter but I will try to write this letter to express my sincere thanks to...

The Oldest Student

Limbuwani (50) is one of oldest students in Rajbanshi literacy class. She is a widow and has to be independent. Since she was illiterate, she had a very hard time going to government offices. When she heard about the literacy class, she enrolled immediately. She attends the class regularly and pays close attention. The fifth day of the first week, the teacher taught numbers 1-100....

My family can read and write now

Renuka is one of Rajbanshi literacy teachers. She is a college student. She loves to learn new things and she did very well in teacher's training. Her mother and a few relatives are in her class. Renuka is very happy to teach them even though it is hard to teach her own family members sometimes. This is what she shared with us after two months...