Networking Meeting of Nepalese Representatives Operating Non-Formal Education Classes and Educational Resource Persons
Nepalese community represents one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in Japan. There is an increasing trend of Nepalese immigrants settling in Japan with families. As a result, the educational needs of children of Nepalese root are becoming prominent among the community members. Some Nepalese groups are taking initiatives to operate Nepalese curriculum-based schools in urban areas such as Tokyo and Nagoya. However, there are many Nepalese children both in urban areas and countryside who attend Japanese public schools. They have limited opportunities to learn about their national language and culture.
As a part or our project activity, we have been exploring the nascent community based Nepalese language supplementary classes organized by Nepalese community members in Fukuoka, Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya. We also have had opportunity to engage with Nepalese resource persons employed by the education department of some cities and prefectures in Japan to support educational attainment of Nepalese children in Japanese schools. We organized an online networking meeting on April 23, 2023 to facilitate information sharing and interaction among the language groups and resource persons.
Mr. Resham Upreti and Ms. Kavita are some of the few migrant resource persons working at municipal education department in Japan. Employed by Education Department of Nagoya Municipality, they teach and facilitate the education of migrant children particularly from Nepal. Mr. Upreti has also undertaken personal initiation with the support of Meiji Community Centre in Nagoya and Japanese volunteers to teach Japanese language and Nepalese language to children of Nepalese root. His initiation organizes various cultural exchange activities between Nepalese and Japanese communities and his efforts have been covered by Japanese media too.
Osaka Fu is the only local body in Japan that offers opportunity for migrant children in the high schools to learner their national languages. Ms. Bina Shrestha is working as a Nepali language teacher to about 30 students in two high schools there. She also serves as a translator/interpreter for elementary school and junior high schools in Osaka City with a responsibility to facilitate overall educational enhancement of Nepalese children. As a resource person focused on Nepali children, she has felt the struggle that these migrant children have had to go through in Japan as well as in Nepal. She thinks that the migrant children attending schools in Osaka are really fortunate to get the opportunity to learn their language as a part of their formal education, thanks to the initiation of Osaka Fu.
Mr. Pritam Gole is a full-time Nepali Language teacher at Asiyana International Secondary School in Hyogo. As a person involved in education sector in Japan, he is very concerned about the educational enhancement of Nepalese children enrolled in Japanese public schools. He is operating a supplementary school called Sewa International School that teaches Nepalese language to children while supporting them in their regular education.
The number of Nepalese families is growing rapidly in Fukuoka too. Mr. Janardan Pyakurel who serves at a Japanese language school also volunteers to teach Nepalese language at a Nepalese supplementary school called Babunai Gyanshala”. This free supplementary school was opened in 2021 by a Fukouka based Nepali community group called “Hamro Nepal, Hami Nepali”. The members, most of whose children are attending public schools are utilizing their resources to introduce Nepalese Language and culture to the second generation. The goal of the group is to bridge the children with Nepal and families in Nepal through language learning. The group is also approaching local government organizations for facilities and other potential support measures and have held meetings with local policymakers.
Mr Arjun Sadaula is a Nepalese language teacher at Everest International School, a Nepalese curriculum-based school in Tokyo, Japan. As a Nepalese Language teacher in Japan, he has tackled the challenges of teaching academic Nepali language to children who come from Nepalese and Japanese school background. He introduced the initiation by EISJ to develop and implement Nepalese Language proficiency test targeting Nepalese Language learners in overseas. He feels that there are many more Nepalese children who cannot access the services of the Nepalese curriculum-based schools and hence the role of supplementary language classes is very significant.
The meeting was useful for the Nepalese language class organizers and resource persons working for education department of different cities to explore about the educational and linguistic challenges that Nepalese immigrant children in Japan face. We can see that there has been nascent initiation by different individuals and group with different degree of involvement of Japanese supporters. The experience sharing and networking among these initiations is expected to enrich curricular and teaching-learning aspects, thus benefitting the children and the families. The group concluded the meeting with a plan to organize regular interaction focusing on various themes related to Nepalese language learning and cultural activities.