June 1st Half: An Eventful Period
The beginning of June was full of events for CEPP. In Rasuwa and Sarlahi, saplings were planted on the occasion of the World Environment Day. In Amachhodingmo Rural Municipality some 1500 saplings of the broom grass was planted. , Pupils, teachers, parentsof Hakubesi Basic School and CEPP staff took to green a slope left derelict after the road construction. In the 5 schools where CEPP is running Parent and Teacher Mobilization Project (PTM) with the Municipality for about two years, over 160saplings were planted in school premises together with environmental orientation. A team of CEPP from Kathmandu also joined to help coach teachers on how to handle children in the beginning of a session.
On the 2nd, an interaction with the concerned Municipality on issue and challenges of a municipality including the issue of teaching in the mother tongue was organized. Some 15 individuals took part. Staff of CEPP and the linguist-activist AmritYonjan-Tamang made their presentations on the subject. Municipality (thinly represented though), endorsed the idea of teaching in Tamang as a local subject and expected that CEPP’s HakuEnvironment and Education Project (HEEP) will stand as an exemplary project in the Municipality. Ahead of that on 31 of May, a workshop with the schools of Haku was organized to discuss the issue and importance of teaching in mother tongues.
In Bagmati Rural Municipality in Makwanpur, 2nd Consultation in preparing Curriculum was organized by the Municipality together with CEPP on the 10 of June. Educator TeekaBhattarai from CEPP, Local education activist affiliated to CEPP Bir B Rai, and linguist AmritYonjan-Tamang made their presentations on the rationale of having a curriculum, process and structure of the curriculum and features of the curriculum respectively. The Chair of the Municipality appreciated the cooperation with CEPP and vowed for implementing the curricula as an achievement of the political movement toward the federalization of the governance. Vice Chair, Ward Chair persons, (Head) teachers made their comments on the draft.
Together with the above a language workshop that forms a third of the part of the curriculum was organized in the premises of Surya Higher Secondary School in Majhgaon. Teachers and speakers of the local tongues Pahari (4 participants), Majhi (2 participants), Danuwar Rai (5 participants) and Tamang (6 participants) took part and it was full of exchanges. It was facilitated by linguist Yonjan-Tamang as in other events mentioned above, aided by the facilitated mentioned earlier.
