Odias in Jharkhand to move Guv and Edu Min over language neglect

BHUBANESWAR: The native Odias of Singhbhum district in Jharkhand have decided to approach the Ministry of Education against the Hemant Soren government's move to yet again remove Odia from its primary teacher training programme.

A group of Singhbhum residents under the aegis of Odisha Bhasha Vichar Mancha led by a member of the Kera royal family Deepak Kumar Singhdeo on Monday decided to write to the governors of both Odisha and Jharkhand and the ministry over the issue and administrative neglect being meted out to Odia language.

In an advertisement for NCTE examination, published by Jharkhand Academic Council on January 7, while languages like Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu, Ho, Nagpuri, Mundari, Khadia, Santhali and Kudmali have been included in the seventh paper (regional languages) of the primary teacher training exam, Odia does not find a place. This despite the fact that Odia is the second language of the state as it is home to nearly 20 lakh Odia speaking people spread across 10 of its districts. 

While 35 Odia schools are currently operational in the state, the Odisha government is funding 160 teachers through Utkal Sammilani to impart education in Odia to students there. "We will also start a petition campaign in Singhbhum against the decision of NCTE and Jharkhand government and if the government does not take appropriate action for including Odia in the primary teacher training programme, we will move the High Court of Jharkhand," said Singhdeo.

Last year when the Jharkhand government had taken a similar step, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan had written to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Odisha School and Mass Education minister Samir Ranjan Dash had also sought intervention of Jharkhand School Education minister Jagarnath Mahto.  "We are continuing our support to the Jharkhand government to ensure Odia students in the state study in their mother tongue. The department will take up the issue with the Jharkhand government as it had assured us not to exclude Odia from the NCTE exam," Dash said.