GUWAHATI, March 18 � The Asam Sahitya Sabha has urged the State Government and all the Opposition parties to put up a united front to fight the growing threats to the indigenous mother tongues of the State.
In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the Sabha said that teaching of the local language ought to be made compulsory provided 20 per cent of the students of a school speak the local language.
�Teaching of the mother tongue has been endorsed by the UNESCO as a fundamental right of all people and this needs to be ensured in every educational institutions. But, regrettably the State Government has done precious little in this regard with the result that many schools continue to flout this norm,� it said.
The Sabha called for tabling a bill in the assembly to make it mandatory on the part of all schools, to teach the indigenous mother tongue if one-fifth of the students communicate in the language. Some other demands of the Sabha include introduction of a paper on the mother tongue for examinations for jobs in the State Government services, setting up of separate directorate for every indigenous language of the State, and a favourable response to the agitating teachers and employees of non-provincialised schools.
