Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday made it clear that Bengal was not imposing the Bengali language on the students and the mother tongue will be the first language in the state as per the preference of the student while the second and third language will depend on the ethnic profile of people living in a particular region.
“Some people are making baseless comments when it comes to language. We do not endorse that. During our Cabinet discussion, we opted for the three-language formula. Under this, for those who study in Bengali medium schools, their first language is Bengali. The other two languages can be anything of their choice – English, Hindi, Bengal, Gurmukhi, Nepali, or OlChiki,” Banerjee said addressing the World Tribal Day programme at Jhargram.
She clarified that for instance, in Darjeeling, there are many Nepali medium schools and in this case, “they will continue studying in Nepali and opt for two additional subjects as per their choice. Similarly, in Rajbanshi schools, students will study Rajbanshi as the first subject, and the other two subjects are based on the choice of the student. Nothing is being imposed on anyone.” It may be mentioned that a section of the media had reported that taking up Bengali as a language had been made compulsory.
Banerjee said that the state government is working on a dedicated branch in the school education department, looking after the promotion of sub-regional languages in schools. “We give state holidays on the birth anniversary of Raghunath Murmu and Birsa Mundu. A similar demand was raised for Karam Puja and we have granted the same,” she said.
Banerjee said that elected representatives are participating in various events taking place in 18 blocks across 13 districts, including Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, West Midnapore, Hooghly, Nadia, Purba Bardhaman, and West Burdwan on the occasion of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.
Social welfare schemes of around Rs 1,100 crore were inaugurated on Wednesday across 14 districts, including Jhargram, by Banerjee. These include projects related to roads, water, health, and other necessities. Around 890 dhamsa-madols were also distributed.