National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Prof Akhtarul Wasey Thursday asked the state government to include information of child’s mother tongue as well as preferred third language for study in school admission forms in order to promote Urdu and regional languages.
“All the affiliated schools of state board should include a column in the application forms for admission as per the recommendations of National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) on compulsory registration of mother tongue,” Prof Wasey said while addressing a seminar at Central University of Kashmir, here.
He said if the government starts it successfully in J&K, it will be an important milestone for promotion of various regional languages. “This will also make the government duty bound to teach the languages at school level and make them as a medium of instruction”.
Wasey said information on language preference could also help the schools streamline recruitment of language teachers and make a proper assessment of the preferred language.
The plan has already been implemented in CBSE-affiliated schools as per the recommendations of the board’s examination committee on compulsory registration of mother tongue and inclusion of the three-language formula.
CBSE in an earlier circular had mentioned that children should be able to access education in their mother tongue in the primary stage itself as enshrined under Article 350 A of the Constitution.
“We should take lesson from Japan, China and Korea who have attained great proficiency in their mother tongue as they make everything in their own language,” Wasey said.
He said people had to be optimistic about the changing trends regarding various regional languages and Urdu.
“Urdu has become as second official language in many states and now we have 24X7 Urdu channels like Munsif Tv, ETv Urdu, Zee Salam and Aalmi Sahara, which are becoming popular day by day,” he said.
Prof Akhtarul Wasey is Muslim scholar and Padma awardee who was appointed as National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in 2014 after serving the Jamia Millia Islamia since 1999.
He has a long experience as an Honorary Director of Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic studies since 1999, at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
He received his education in Islamic Studies and Muslim Theology from the Aligarh Muslim University.
‘JK govt must add mother tongue, third language column in admission forms’
