Sabha push for Assamese, local tongue in CBSE schools

GUWAHATI: The Asam Sahitya Sabha's demand to make Assamese and other regional languages compulsory in CBSE-affiliated schools has met a positive response from the board's officials in the state.
The Sabha's demand to make Assamese compulsory in all schools of the state is a long-standing one. Earlier this week, CBSE officials and Sabha members held a meeting to discuss the matter. "We got a positive response from the director of CBSE's Guwahati regional office, KK Choudhury," a statement issued by the 100-year-old apex literary body on Wednesday said. Choudhury told TOI he has assured the literary body that their demands can be met as soon as the board gets the Centre's approval.

The Sabha will now approach the Centre with its demand. "We will move Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar about our demand to teach Assamese and other local languages in the state's CBSE-affiliated schools on a mandatory basis, as talks with top CBSE officials on the matter were held in Guwahati," the statement added.

The Sabha also appealed to all CBSE-affiliated schools to help promote Assamese and regional languages. "Sahitya Sabha is emphasizing on compulsory teaching of Bodo, Rabha, Mishing, Tiwa, Karbi, Dimasa and other local languages spoken by the ethnic tribes and communities as well as Assamese in every CBSE-affiliated school in Assam," the Sabha said. "These schools must impart lessons on Assamese or the primary local languages of the areas where the schools are located. A 50-mark exam in Assamese or other local languages has to be introduced," the statement added.

Several regional organizations in the state have backed the demand, saying that while English and Hindi get due importance in the state's CBSE-affiliated schools, the decline in use of regional languages in schools is a matter of concern.

To take the proposal ahead, CBSE sources said, there is a need to bring the NCERT on board. "NCERT will play an important role in this - it has to publish books on various ethnic languages of Assam if the demand is met," sources said. As per the language policy, every CBSE school needs to teach three languages compulsorily up to Class VIII, while two languages have to be taught on a mandatory basis in Classes IX and X.