The Gawri language community
May 14, 2025
The country of Pakistan is known for its colorful diversity of cultures and languages. This ethnic diversity characterizes the country as a whole, but culminates in the mountainous North, where fast-flowing streams and high mountain ranges create natural barriers that impede mobility and communication.
One of the people groups in that area are the Gawri, a unique linguistic and ethnic group with a long history, who about a thousand years ago were pushed back by invading Afghan armies from the fertile, lower areas, up to the rugged, upper reaches of two mountain valleys, in an area called Kalam and Dir Kohistan. Nowadays, Gawri struggles hard for their existence, in a country where two-thirds of the population lives in modest to extreme poverty anyway.
For Gawri children, education is essential if they are to have opportunities when they grow up to find work and earn an income. However, these children do not speak the general languages when they enter school and often drop out of the current school system because they do not understand the languages in which the subject matter is taught.
Multi-Lingual Education project
The Gawri Community Development Program (GCDP) is a local, officially registered, non-governmental organization which is dedicated to community development in the region of Kalam through provision of education and health facilities.
Among other activities, In 2008 GCDP was engaged in a significant effort in the Kalam area, which was aimed at the introduction and acceptance of mother-tongue-based, multi-lingual education (MLE). After mobilization of community towards acceptance and acknowledgment of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education the first ever school was established in Kokonail Village in 2008. In the classes administered by this project, children begin to learn to read, write, and do math in their own native language (Gawri), while in the course of the program the important languages of wider communication (Urdu and English) are gradually introduced.
In August 2008, two pilot schools were started in the Kalam area. The teachers in both schools used multi-lingual curriculum materials that had been developed by the project team. By April 2011, the first batch of students finished the 3-year program, and many of them continued their education in grade 2 and higher in the government school system. Currently, five MLE classes are in progress in different locations in the Kalam area, which are upgraded to Grade-5 with the help of the curriculum development team. Whereas the initial MLE efforts were regarded with indifference, if not hostility, by most of the Gawri community, now that the classes are in operation and students who have gone through the program do well in the government school system, a watershed change of attitude seems to have happened in the community, as witnessed by continuing requests for more MLE classes, as well as the overwhelming attendance each year at the celebration of World Literacy Day.
Finally, with the great breakthrough in the education system in Gawri speaking areas by introducing MTB MLE, GCDP has expanded its MLE Programme in the Upper Dir District. Three new schools are established in the Lamoti, Kalkot and Jiyar villages.
From 2008 to 2024 Total 652 students enrolled in GCDP’s MLE Schools,
GCDP resources and competence
GCDP currently employs fourteen staff members, one of which is based in Islamabad, while the others are based in the field. There are eight teachers (making full-time employed), two school supervisors (each one half-time), two field officers (full-time) who are responsible for curriculum development, field operations, community relations, and the Kalam office, plus additional support staff working in the areas of bookkeeping, maintenance, and government relations. The GCDP field staff is well-trained and experienced, competent to train and help new teachers and supervise MLE programs.
SIL Global
SIL Global is a partner with communities worldwide to develop language solutions to expand their possibilities for a better life. SIL is the main donor partner of GCDP. SIL is not only sponsoring GCDP's MLE schools but is also cooperating with GCDP in various technical matters, including book publishing. SIL has supported GCDP in creating the Gawri alphabet keyboard, Gawri font, and Gawri Android keyboard. Additionally, by assisting GCDP through celebrating important international days, seminars, and various workshops, SIL is helping to strengthen and capacity building or the organization.
