Sahitya Sabha glare on schools neglecting indigenous languages

GUWAHATI: As per resolutions taken in the 10th annual special session of the Assam Sahitya Sabha at Raha in Nagaon this month, the apex literary body is keeping a strict vigil on educational institutions where "indigenous languages are being neglected". Under Sahitya Sabha's radar are institutions, mostly English medium schools affiliated to the CBSE, which are not adhering to the literary body's call for teaching the mother tongue till Class X.

"Those schools, which are flouting The Assam Official Language Act, 1960, which gave official status to the Assamese language in the Brahmaputra Valley and to the Bengali language in the Barak Valley, should correct themselves. If our appeals go unheard, we will be forced to act against them. It's not legally permissible to flout the Act," Padum Rajkhowa, principal secretary of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, told TOI on Tuesday.

Top office-bearers of the literary body recently approached the Assam chief secretary and the DGP, to press for their demand to implement The Assam Official Language Act, 1960 in letter and spirit across all government and private institutions in the state.

Recently, Sahitya Sabha president Paramananda Rajbongshi urged the Kendriya Vidyalaya , which is located at Tamulpur in Baksa district under the Bodoland Territorial Council, to take steps for teaching Bodo and Assamese languages in the school.

Earlier, the apex literary body had raised the demand before the CBSE to make Assamese the lingua franca and make the teaching of other regional language papers compulsory in CBSE-affiliated schools of the state.

Sahitya Sabha said that in order to make Assamese and other local languages flourish, the literary body is emphasizing on the importance of teaching Bodo, Rabha, Mishing, Tiwa, Karbi, Dimasa and other local languages spoken by ethnic tribes and communities. It is also pressing for making Assamese compulsorily in CBSE-affiliated schools in Assam, which prefer to have English as the medium of instruction.