Journal of Education & Social Policy

Population Census Questionnaire to Promote Mother-Languages
Binod Manandhar

Abstract
Nepal is a small, multilingual country. It has given birth to many different languages. In the last sixty-five years almost all Nepal’s mother languages speakers have dropped unexpectedly. Today there is a concern among many citizens that many of these mother languages may become extinct. The census is the main source of language statistics in Nepal. To stem the tide of mother language extinction, the census needs to collect the information that will help us understand what is happening and its reasons, so that mother languages can be preserved. The censuses of Nepal used to collect data on mother languages and other-languages/second language. The pilot census in 2021 added an extra question: “What is [Name's] ancestral language?” Today, citizens of Nepal are more aware and have the desire to preserve their mother languages. However, the newly added question may not solve the problem. I propose questions on languages for Nepal's 2021 census that are simple and will provide the information needed to plan for the preservation of mother languages in Nepal.

Full Text: PDF