Shillong, Nov 21: Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, on Sunday inaugurated the newly constructed building of Kendriya Hindi Sansthan at Mawdiangdiang, East Khasi Hills. Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma was also present during the inauguration programme.
In the presence of Hon’ble Union Education Minister, Sh. @dpradhanbjp Ji, we inaugurated the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Shillong centre at Mawdiangdiang. @PMOIndia @EduMinOfIndia pic.twitter.com/gCUcm8Urhl
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) November 21, 2021
The Union Minister expressed that this Institute will work for the benefit of teachers of Hindi and people eager to learn and do research in the language and will cater to states of Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
The Union Minister also took the opportunity to state that the National Education Policy – 2020 (NEP) is a visionary approach to transform the education landscape of the country and to achieve the realistic goal and to percolate its ripple effect to the grassroots. One of most important salient features of NEP, the Minister said, is that NEP-2020 emphasises on imparting education in mother language at the primary level and the government is striving to achieve the target within the stipulated time frame.
Acknowledging the diversity of culture, language and tradition of this country and the co-existence amid this diversity, the Minister said that it is because of this beauty of this language that people can share each other’s tradition and rich heritage. The Minister said that technology should be used extensively to preserve and enrich native languages so that people can use internet in their native languages and make people from other parts of the world aware about their rich culture and tradition. These practices will encourage innovation and creativity among the youths and may show light to world about many relevant issues concerning the people, the Minister added.
Acknowledging the rich culture of this region, the Union Minister said, “There are many things to learn from this region, it has a very rich heritage and is strong in natural resources. There have been many good educational institutions coming up in this region including IIM’s new campus.” The Minister said that there is a lot to do for the youths of the region and exhorted everyone to work for providing a better environment for the young generation.
He said, “I have been informed that Meghalaya has around the 3.5 lakh college going students and it is the collective responsibility of everyone to build a conducive environment to ensure their quality education, skilling, raising their employability capability and imbibing inside them the value of fundamental research. The first step towards this effort would be to simplify the process of learning languages”.
The minister also referred to the North-East Education Conclave that was held in Guwahati on Saturday and said that the North East Region has nearly 180 languages and dialects spoken by various tribes and community and it is the mandate of the NEP to develop and preserve this heritage.
In the days to come Kendriya Hindi Sansthan and English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) will function as a Centre of Excellence and will work with the Government of Meghalaya to preserve and enrich Khasi, Garo and Jaintia languages with the help of technology, the Minister added.
The Minister also released two books during the programme- Samànvay Purvottar Sanchayan and Hindi-khasi-Garo-Jaintia-English Concise Dictionary. The Minister appreciated the efforts for bringing out the Concise Dictionary and exclaimed that this will help in learning the languages.
The Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma expressed his happiness for the inauguration of the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan in his state and said that the presence of this institute will help the youths of Meghalaya and the entire Northeast region to learn Hindi and also to excel in this language.
Local language should be encouraged in schools and colleges: Conrad
Sangma said in many States not much of due importance is given to the Hindi language. He said that the youth have taken to learning foreign languages such as Japanese, Italian or Spanish in the hope of getting attractive jobs in those countries. “If similar importance of learning foreign languages is given to learn Hindi one will be at an advantageous position,” he said.
He also stated that unless we break the language barrier it will be very difficult to provide employment to the youth and added that for anyone from the North East region who wishes to work in the other economically developed states of the country knowing the Hindi language will be helpful. “I have studied in Delhi and learned Hindi and we would converse in the language as today as the Chief Minister when I go to Delhi and interact with the ministers and officials, I find a different comfort level in communication,” he said.
The Chief Minister also said that as per the New Education Policy the local language should be encouraged in schools and colleges. “The North East is rich in languages, culture and heritage and we need to preserve this rich cultural heritage which is the identity of the people and many languages have become extinct,” he said. He further added that there is a need to use modern technology to preserve this cultural heritage besides preserving them in documents and books. He also urged the Minister to have detailed research in the languages of Meghalaya.
He also said that Meghalaya will be celebrating 50 years on 21st January 2022 and it would be befitting if the Garo and the Khasi language will be included in the 8th Schedule. “The people of the State have been working very hard for the inclusion of these two languages in the 8th Scheduled and the Meghalaya assembly has also passed a resolution in this respect and if these languages are included in the 8th Schedule it would be a great gift for the people of the State,” he said.
Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, Renowned Educationist and Co-founder Sanskrit Bharati Chamu Krishna Shastry, Director Kendriya Hindi Sansthan Prof Beena Sharma and Senior officials of Central and State Government were also present during the programme.
