By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Nov: A two-day Uttarakhand Matribhasha Utsav has been organised by the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Uttarakhand, with the aim of improving the expression of children in folk languages and to develop a sense of respect for the mother tongue.
The two day event was inaugurated by the state’s School Education Minister, Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, in virtual mode.
Speaking on this occasion, Rawat claimed that the mother tongue is the most appropriate medium for foundation learning because young children learnt and understood anything faster in their mother tongue. He said that as far as possible, children should be educated in the mother tongue. He said that provision in this regard had also been made in the National Education Policy-2020.
The two-day Uttarakhand Matribhasha Utsav was organised by SCERT at the Kisan Bhawan Auditorium here, today, over virtual medium.
Rawat said that the National Education Policy-2020 also had recommended imparting education in the mother tongue, which is why a provision had been made in this policy for the three-language formula so that children could be taught in local language besides Hindi and English. The Education Minister said that children are being provided opportunities to express their thoughts through folktales, theatrical dialogues and folk songs in different folk languages of the state. This would develop a sense of respect for their mother tongue in the minds of the children. Besides this, children would also be able to get acquainted with each other’s languages.
He said that as many 17 mother tongues had been identified in the state of which Garhwali, Kumaoni, Jaunsari, Ran, Ranwalti, Jar, Machcha, Raji are major dialects. Efforts are being made to preserve these dialects. Rawat congratulated the officers concerned for organising the Matribhasha Utsav and added that such programmes helped develop the understanding of the children.
Secretary, School Education, Ravinath Raman, Director General, School Education, Bansidhar Tiwari stressed upon the promotion of the mother tongue.
The programme was also attended by Director, Research and Training Institute, Seema Jaunsari, Director, Secondary Education, RK Kunwar, Director, Basic Education, Vandana Garbyal, senior officers, as well as teachers and students of various schools.