Nurturing Linguistic Diversity in Jharkhand
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COMMENTARY l anguage. It is well known that children Nurturing Linguistic Diversity understand concepts in language and mathematics better in their mother in Jharkhand tongue, or in their fi rst language. But the education system in India has largely Role of the Mother Tongue failed to provide education to children in their own language. Though the Indian Constitution pro- Prabhat K Singh vides for education in mother tongue for children belonging to linguistic minority It is imperative for the n the 1881 Census, the question on communities, tribal children are forced Government of Jharkhand to mother tongue was included for the to study in dominant regional languages implement the policy of imparting Ifi rst time in the questionnaire and like Hindi or English in school. One mother tongue was deemed as the lan- m ajor reason for children’s low attend- education in the mother tongue at guage spoken by parents in the house- ance and poor performance in school is the primary school level to both hold. In various censuses conducted the problem of comprehension, since the enhance the learning of young over the last century, the concept has language in which they are taught (Hindi) children and maintain linguistic undergone modifi cations, and in the is foreign to them. This language barrier 2001 Census, mother tongue was de- leads to a high dropout rate among tribal diversity in the state. fi ned as the children, and by Class 5, 50% of them language spoken in childhood by the per- leave school, and by Class 10, 80% drop son’s mother to the person. If the mother out. According to some statistics, out of died in infancy, the language mainly spoken 100 tribal children, only 20 manage to in the person’s home in childhood will be the appear in high school examinations and mother tongue. In the case of infants and deaf mutes, the language usually spoken by only eight of them pass. the mother should be recorded. In case of However, in a multilingual society doubt, the language mainly spoken in the like India, children need to learn lan- household may be recorded. guages other than their mother tongue Historical evidence shows that even to communicate at a regional, national the most educationally backward na- and international level. Mother tongue- tions can achieve high levels of educa- based bilingual or multilingual education tion if it is imparted in mother tongue at at the primary level can help to achieve Prabhat K Singh ([email protected]) the primary school level. The language high levels of multilingual competence. is with the Department of Anthropology, in which children think, articulate and Studies from all over the world show Ranchi University. express fearlessly is in their home that children are more likely to succeed Economic & Political Weekly EPW december 20, 2014 vol xlIX no 51 17 COMMENTARY in school if instructions in their early accorded Urdu the status of second state this compelled the Kurmis to accept school years are in their mother tongue. offi cial language. In 2011, the Jharkhand Bengali in schools. In the Kurukh-Kharia- The National Curriculum Framework government offi cially gave the status of Munda region, Sadri or Nagpuria is the (NCF), 2005, UNESCO’s position paper second state offi cial language to nine lingua franca, and in the Kurmali-speaking on Education (2003), several linguistic tribal and regional languages (Santhali, region, there are two lingua francas rights documents and National Policy on Oraon, Mundari, Ho, Kurukh, Sadri, Panch Pargana, and Khortha. Education (NPE), 1986 clearly say that Khortha, Panch Pargana, and Kurmali) The Ranchi University set up a depart- children participate fully and fearlessly along with Bengali and Odia. This was ment of tribal and regional languages in in classroom academic discourse, only if achieved after a long struggle by the dif- 1981 for postgraduate course and research. they are taught in their mother tongue. ferent linguistic groups. In 2003, San- Initially, seven languages, Mundari, The NCF 2005 calls for the implementa- thali was accorded the status of a sched- Santhali, Kurukh, Ho, Kharia, Kurmali tion of the “three-language formula” and uled language in the Eighth Schedule of and Nagpuri were taught in this depart- recognises the need to nurture linguistic the Constitution. ment. Later on, two more languages, diversity and to promote various forms Kurukh is spoken in the districts Khortha and Panch Pargana, which of multilingualism to sustain linguistic of Gumla, Simdega, Lohardaga, and were basically lingua franca of the and cultural diversity. Ranchi by the Oraons, whereas Malto, a Jharkhand region, were included. The Dravidian language, is spoken by the Bihar government also published text- Tribal Languages in Jharkhand Sauria Paharias and Mal Paharias. The books for elementary level in tribal and There are 32 scheduled tribes in Jhar- Sauria Paharias are found in the Raj- regional languages in 1986, but these khand, which comprise 26.2% of the state mahal Hills of Santhal Parganas. San- books were never distributed in schools. population. Most tribal groups in the thali language is prevalent in the regions The policy of instruction in mother state have their own language. Besides the of Santhal Parganas, Hazaribagh and tongue in elementary schools has not tribes, there are many ethnic groups such east Singhbhum districts. Santhali is a been implemented even 10 years after as the Kurmis. Other than Jharkhand, the rich language with its own script called the formation of Jharkhand. Kurmis are also found in West Bengal Ol Chiki. Kharia is spoken by the Kharia Some tribal languages are getting and Odisha and speak a language called people in the districts of Gumla, Simdega f acilities from the state government and Kurmali, which is widely spoken in the and Khunti. The Ho language is preva- others are not. The language policy of the region. Out of the 32 scheduled tribes in lent in Kolhan region among the Ho state is responsible for this predicament. Jharkhand, eight are classifi ed under tribes, and in many places the people are Language politics is also very much in primitive tribal groups. The language or monolingual. In this region, a lingua play. Speakers of some languages claim dialects of these groups are the most franca has not developed. that their language is spoken in a larger vulnerable and would perish if an effort Kurmali is the language of the Kurmis. area in comparison to others. Every to save them is not made in time. In many places such as East Singh bhum, group claims that its language is superior Almost all tribes have their own lan- the younger generation has forgotten their and that is why it should get a higher guage, and often it is the language that mother tongue. Bengali and Odia have s tatus, and more facilities. differentiates one tribe from the other. replaced the language, as the medium of Despite the impact of other cultures over instruction in schools in this region is ei- The Case of Santhali the years, the tribal languages of ther Bengali or Odia. The habitat of the Santhali, a language spoken by six and Jharkhand have survived. Tribal lan- Kurmis is the Subernerekha river basin, a half million tribals across the states guages in Jharkhand belong to two which lies on the border of West Bengal. of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West l anguage families – Austro-Asiatic and Moreover, the Manbhum part of West Bengal (2001 Census), did not have a D ravidian. Kurukh and Malto belong to Bengal was part of Bihar until 1956, and separate script until the beginning of the the Dravidian family and the rest to the Austro-Asiatic family. Languages such Sameeksha Trust Books as Nagpuri, Khortha, and Panch Pargana have become lingua franca to facilitate Village Society communication between tribal groups as Edited by URINDER ODHKA well as between tribals and non-tribals. S S J Other than tribal languages, many The village is an important idea in the history of post-Independence India. A collection of articles that covers various features of village society: caste and community, land Pp x + 252 Rs 325 languages from Indo-Aryan family also ISBN 978-81-250-4603-5 and labour, migration, discrimination and use of common property resources. 2012 prevail in the region. Being the neighbour- ing state of Bengal and Odisha, Bengali Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd and Odia are also spoken in several www.orientblackswan.com districts of Jharkhand. After Jharkhand Mumbai • Chennai • New Delhi • Kolkata • Bangalore • Bhubaneshwar • Ernakulam • Guwahati • Jaipur • Lucknow was carved out of Bihar, it followed the • Patna • Chandigarh • Hyderabad policy of the Bihar government and Contact: [email protected] 18 december 20, 2014 vol xlIX no 51 EPW Economic & Political Weekly COMMENTARY 20th century and was written in Bengali, languages are also intrinsic to the iden- There are many unnoticed languages Devanagari and the Roman script. Lars tity of their speakers, no matter how and dialects which still exist in India. Oslen Skrefsrud, a Norwegian mission- small their numbers are. Recently, Koro, a language spoken in ary, used the Bengali script to write the The Jharkhand government has not Arunachal Pradesh, was discovered by book, A Grammar of the Santal Language yet implemented the plan to teach in the National Geographic Channel in 1873 and started the Santali Printing mother tongue in schools at the elemen- Group. A linguist from the Ranchi Uni- Press in 1879 in Santhal P argana. His tary level. The state government is plan- versity, Ganesh Murmu, was a part of colleague Paul Olaf Bodding used the ning to recruit teachers through an exami- this team.