[Assam] Oppose the idea of compulsory teaching of Assamese in all schools

[Manoj Das]

Dear so-kokaideo,

A Manipuri friend of mine- "bikram singh" <thocks5 at gmail.com> went to Tawang
few years back. Near Sela Pass he found two villages communicating in
Arunachali (An adopted from of Assamese in Arunachal). They knew no other
common language. Imposition of Hindi has largely failed. On returning he
reminded me how at one point of time Assamese was the lingua franca of the
current NER starting from Coch Behar to Manipur and from Tawang to
Chittagong.

He retrospected me that we should have created situation for various
verisons to grow simultaneously; instead we the true blooded Kharkhowas
tried to codify and impose  chaste Assamese in all schools, including the
areas inhabited by heavy tongued tribal brothers . Assam was fragmented
because of the language issue. Even now we refuse to learn. The local
dialects are constantly under threat of being wiped out by the onslaught of
Assamese. This hegemony of Assamese has forced the tribals brothers to seek
protection in withdrawal from mainstream Assamese culture.

A habitat of co-existence has to be worked out. Incentives such as
so-kokaideo is mentioning needs to be invented. Otherwise the shrunken
borders of Oxom will untimately resemble a blackhole.

-Manoj

On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:

>
> O' Bikaax,
>
> Buisa--jwr kori kakw bhaxa xikaabo nowara. Pise'  obhipraayor sristi
> koriboloi udogoni dile' xohojei kaamtwr xomadhaan hoy. Xeitw  eta
> xorbojoneen xotyo.
>
> ( You know, you cannot force anyone to learn a language? But if you create
> an incentive, it always works. It is an universal truth).
>
> We do learn some of these languages, because it helps advance our ability
> to communicate with people that leads to knowledge and advancement of
> careers.   But if you have no such incentive, then it is highly unlikely
> that anyone would go for it. IF a Bengali ethinc of Assam can get by quite
> well without having to learn any Assamese, why would she take the trouble
> to?  Similarly if an Assamese has just as good a chance, or even better, to
> advance his career by learning English instead of Assamese, why would she
> take the trouble to?
>
> So, the need is to create those incentives. Coercion will never work, it
> will merely harden the opposition and deepen a feeling of oppression and
> alienation.
>
> That simple.
>
> Best wishes.
>
> Iti twmar,
>
> so-kai
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 8:04 PM +0530 2/6/09, DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS wrote:
>
>> What about asking WEST  BENGAL Govt to introduce compulsory Assamese
>> instad of bengali and Assam Govt Bengali?? This will help all khai paat
>> fala.
>> Dhik Dhimoti!!
>>
>> Bikash
>>
>> --- On Fri, 6/2/09, mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com> wrote:This
>> Suggester of Forcing ASSAMESE language-- should suggest  INSTEAD to Govt.
>> of free Assam  to  pronounce:[Schools and colleges offering  a full course
>> of
>> Non-mother-tongue language to proficiency level will be granted big
>> privileges.
>> Russian ,Madarin,Myanmarese,Thai, Pushtu,Farsi,Serbo-Croat,Portugese,
>> CubanSpanish,Tagalog,Bahasa , Indonesia,Karbi,Bodo,Garo,Khasi,--- will get
>> increased support.] mm
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>      Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India Messenger
>> at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n/
>> _______________________________________________
>> assam mailing list
>> assam at assamnet.org
>> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>