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Mother Tongue Based Early Childhood Education Program into Lhomi Language in Nepal

Lhomi Preschool Program in Nepal is a liaison between Wycliffe Finland (WRK) and its partner Nepal Lhomi Society (NELHOS). The main output will be Mother Tongue Based Early Childhood Education program for the Lhomi.The status of children in Nepal is often very poor especially among indigenous people groups. Lhomi children are often discriminated. There is no preschools available and they must start primary school in Nepali language which is unknown for them. This will have a bad effect to their success in t he school and finally it causes exclusion.Providing pre-school opportunity by their mother tongue this project will increase parity in the education levels of children in the target communities with other children in the country. Children's rights will be increased by providing them pre-school education that equip them and easy their transition to the first grade in Nepali instructed primary school. In doing so children will comprehend and learn faster they will stay in school and ultimately will increase t heir self-development. This will be achieved through a well-founded Mother Tongue Based Early Childhood Education (MTB ECE) -program that will be developed in the target language.The project aims to reduce inequality and vulnerability of indigenous childre n. The rights of girls disabled children and low cast children will be emphasized. Moreover gender equality reduction of inequality disability and climate sustainability will be part of the learning material.NELHOS is responsible of project implementation. As an organization they will gain capacity of mother tongue education as well as they become strong advocate of minority language groups and the rights of marginalized groups in Nepal.Main beneficiaries are the Lhomi language speaking children their paren ts and the local education actors who benefit of increased capacity. The government supports mother tongue education and pre-schools but often they do not have resources to start schools in the remote areas.Key activities:- Influencing the attitudes of the stakeholders.- Producing MTB ECE program and material for it.- Training teachers.- Pilot classes.- Capacity building.