Newari school graduates ‘doing well’

Kathmandu, February 17:

Students of Newari schools of the valley are doing well in colleges, teachers of the schools said here today.

“Most of our students are performing very well in colleges,” said Sunita Manandhar, a teacher of the Dallu-based Jagat Sundar Bwonekuthi School, the first Newari language school in the valley. The school, run by a trust, was established some 16 years ago.

“This proves that education in mother tongue is effective,” she said at a press conference organised to announce the establishment of the Newa Schools at Newa Settlement (NSNS) project conceived by the principal of the Modern Newa English School, Deepak Tuladhar.

Tuladhar said the new project will help safeguard the rights of the children of the Newar community throughout the nation.

Director of the Kathmandu Newa Kindergarten Rajendra Maharjan said he was excited to open the Newari language school because of the overwhelming response over the mother language education of the locals of Khushibu Nayabazaar.

“I am confident that I can run the school smoothly because parents are calling for the establishment of such a school,” he told reporters.

Nabin Thechomi of the Thecho Newa English School, which is being established with assistance from the NSNS project, said locals of Thecho were eager to run the school because they now know that children can learn better if they are taught in mother tongue.

Tuladhar said the project aims to increase number of Newa schools.

The NSNS project has collected Rs 2.5 million from people. “We have also requested all the schools and colleges to include Newari language as an optional subject,” he said, adding that one of the objectives of the project was to conserve the language as the new generation is not much interested in their mother language.