Teaching of with Special Reference to

Vanlal Tluonga Bapui

Introduction Development of Hmar as a Language The Hmar language belongs to the Tibeto- The Hmar group of tribes speak several Burman family of languages and is a part of languages and dialects among themselves. the Lushai-Kuki-Chin group. It is a verb For the convenience of having a common final language. It was first reduced to language, the language of the Khawsak the written word in the Linguistic Survey of (Easterner) group was accepted by the tribes. done by G.A. Grierson way back Although the other languages and dialects at the beginning of the last century. The language may be said to be in a developing are still widely spoken, only Khawsak is stage; it requires standardization in several used for literary and teaching purposes. areas. For a long time, from the 1920s until The were first recognized as a independence, the Hmar language was tribal community in the North-Eastern written and taught by the tribal communities States of India. In 1956, the Government of largely for religious purposes and for literacy India also granted recognition to the tribe in their own language. Hymn books were by including it in the Scheduled Castes and among the earliest that could be mentioned Scheduled Tribes Lists (Modification), as a book. The New Testament of the Bible 1956 vide Ministry of Home Affairs Order No. S.R.O. 2477 dated 29 October 1956. in Hmar was published in 1947 and the Prior to this, they were known as Kuki or entire Bible in 1972. In fact, with the old Kuki, which is not actually a name of exception of a dictionary by Dr. Thanglung, any tribe but a term that was coined by a medical practitioner, there were very few others to refer to them. In all likelihood, the books on non-religious topics. A few people who assigned this name could not weekly, fortnightly, monthy and annual differentiate between the different tribes or news magazines were published but were their languages, and therefore gave them often discontinued due to various this name. In fact, anyone who enlisted in constraints. the armed forces, police force or petty government jobs was also known by that However, since the fifties and the sixties, a name. However, with the publication of the substantial number of books have been list, the different tribes came to be known published and the language has developed by their specific tribe names. into a .

Language and Language Teaching Volume 6 Number 2 Issue 12 July 2017 1 Teaching of Hmar Language in , is taking measures and preparing textbooks and to introduce a course on the study of the Way back in 1928-1929, Dr. Thanglung Hmar language as an Elective and as a wrote a language primer known as the Bu Major subject in degree courses. Hmasa (First Primer) for Hmar language. The Governments of Mizoram and That primer is still in use in primary schools Meghalaya are also trying to introduce the in Manipur. The book was intended to help teaching of Hmar language at the primary the Hmar people to become literate in their level. However, till date not much has been own language and it did serve the purpose achieved in this regard. In both States the for which it was intended. Many Hmars Hmar tribe is recognized as a Scheduled became literate in their own language Tribe (Hills). because of this primer. Today, apart from the primer, there are a number of school Teaching of Hmar Language in Assam textbooks of Hmar that are used in the The Hmar people living in Assam secondary schools in Manipur for teaching unofficially adopted the textbooks written Hmar. In fact, some vernacular schools in in Manipur, and some schools in the Cachar, Assam have also adopted these even started teaching the textbooks called “Readers” in upper language. Two vernacular Middle Schools primary schooling. (Upper Primary Stage) were established at In 1956, Hmar language was formally Hmarkhawlien and Diphucherra in Cachar. recognized by the Government of Manipur. where students were taught in Hmar upto In 1968, the Government of Manipur the Upper Primary level. granted permission to teach the language at The Government of Assam recognized the the primary level. In 1985, Hmar language Hmar language as a medium of instruction was elevated to the status of a modern vide their order conveyed in Memo No. Indian language (MIL), and was included EMI. 82/67/199 dated , 25 March in the High School Leaving Certificate 1969. However, the language was Examination as a half-paper; it carried fifty introduced as the medium of instruction in marks. As the upper primary schooling was the primary classes in the autonomous consolidated and textbooks for secondary district of north Cachar Hills only from the schooling were finalized, Hmar language academic session of 1984-1985.One gained the status of a full paper in the vernacular Middle School (Upper Primary) HSLC Examinations in the year 1997. was established in Saron. However, the From the year 2000, Hmar was included at Government did not recognize the school the higher secondary level and Manipur as the establishment of vernacular schools Central University granted permission for had been discontinued by the authorities. study of the language at the degree level. The school was recognized as a Middle Examinations in Hmar MIL were permitted English School where Hmar is taught as a from the year 2003. Currently the university language paper only.

Language and Language Teaching Volume 6 Number 2 Issue 12 July 2017 2 As the teaching of the Hmar language textbooks was permitted in a manner that advanced, the question of textbooks arose. could simplify the learning process. The textbooks developed and approved by However, the State Government could not the Government of Manipur could not be be blamed because they had to abide by the accepted by the Government of Assam, and national directives. Finally, the State for a good reason as well. Textbooks of Government decided to develop new Manipur had lessons pertaining to the local textbooks up to the Lower Primary level in history, geography, and biographies of local Hmar language as per the standards heroes and leaders. Therefore, new prescribed by the NCERT. The writing of textbooks from the Pre-Primary to the language textbooks for the Upper Primary Secondary stages had to be developed for the level is currently being developed. As a schools of Assam. The Hmar people result of various constraints, the Hmar themselves in Assam developed school have decided to have textbooks that incorporated their local only one language paper at the Upper history, biography, etc., and even printed and Primary level. circulated most of these books on their own. The Government of Assam has also In the meantime, there was a change in the supplied all textbooks upto the Upper National Policy on Education (1986) which Primary level free of cost to all students. made it mandatory to develop textbooks as Textbooks developed under the guidance per the norms prepared by the NCERT. of the SCERT are printed as free textbooks Following this, the SCERT developed by the Government of Assam and primers and textbooks in Assamese, the distributed to the learners through Block major language of the state. Now, all other Development Offices. languages of the State had to adapt the Though the Hmar language is yet to be pattern of the newly developed textbooks. introduced as a medium of instruction at the That again posed another major problem; Upper Primary level, the Board of Secondary while the State language is an Indo-Aryan Education Assam has recognized and language, the Hmar language is a Tibeto- introduced it as a language paper in the High Burman. Moreover, the alphabets of School Leaving Certificate Examinations Assamese are similar to that of the official from the year 2007, vide No. SEBA/AB/ language Hindi, with all the sandhis, HMAR/2007/01 dated 23 August 2007. combined consonants, etc. The Hmar The Assam Higher Secondary Education language on the other hand has only 25 Council has allowed the introduction of the alphabets (both vowels and consonants) and Hmar language as a MIL paper in classes all Hmar sounds are represented by a XI and XII from the year 2008, vide combination of these consonants in a manner AHSEC/ACA/CURR. SYLL/01/96/94 that is different from that of Assamese. dated 3 January 2008. Consequent to this, Adapting from one to the other therefore , Silchar has recognized became a major problem. It would have the language as a MIL paper for the first been much easier if the writing of the Degree (TDC) from the year 2010, vide No.

Language and Language Teaching Volume 6 Number 2 Issue 12 July 2017 3 AUD-56/2009-10/2004 dated 23 July communities in the State who are facing the 2010. For all these classes, new textbooks same problems. At the same time, this have to be written according to the norms cannot go on indefinitely, and something laid down by the respective authorities of needs to be done about it. The teaching of education. the Hmar language will not be able to continue unless teachers are appointed by Problems Relating to the Teaching of the Government to teach the language at Hmar Language every stage. As of now, in the State of Assam alone, the language can be taught in As mentioned earlier, preparation of about 90 primary schools, 39 high schools textbooks is one of the major problems. and 15 higher secondary schools and Another major problem is that of colleges, which include Government and supporting the teachers. So far, only the non-Government schools and colleges. teachers of the Lower Primary levels are appointed and supported by the State Government. All other teachers of the Vanlal Tluonga Bapui is an independent language, from the Upper Primary level to researcher. He has made significant contributions to social work, mass education programs and in the Degree level are appointed and preparation of textbooks for Schools and College supported by the community through sheer levels. He can speak several tribal languages with determination. Had this not been the case, native like command. the teaching of the language would not [email protected] have progressed so far. However, this has now become a burden for the community. A proposal around the creation of posts of teachers at different levels of education has been submitted to the government, but so far not a single post has been sanctioned. The schools eagerly await the day when these posts will be created and sanctioned but nobody knows when that will happen. In the meantime, the teaching of the language is somehow going on. The teachers are working with negligible remunerations and making supreme sacrifices of their time and talents for the cause of the language. Despite everything however, we cannot blame the authorities for not sanctioning the posts of the teachers. The Hmars are a small minority of scheduled tribes. There are many larger scheduled tribes and

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