TEZPUR, Dec 22: Stressing the central role of the mother tongue in the academic and intellectual development of students, speakers at a Mother Tongue Awareness Meeting held in Tezpur on Sunday asserted that the Assamese language is not facing any external threat, but rather suffers from neglect rooted in misplaced perceptions.
The meeting, titled Pranamo Matribhasa, was organised at Chandranath Sarma Smriti Bhawan, Pithakhowa, under the initiative of Pranamo Matribhasa with the support of the Sonitpur District Jatiya Vidyalaya Coordination Committee.
Speakers highlighted the importance of using the mother tongue—particularly Assamese and other indigenous languages of the state—in education and daily life, while opposing the sense of inferiority associated with the use of Assamese among sections of society.
Related Posts:
Addressing the gathering, Dr Narayan Sarma, Secretary of Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya, described the mother tongue as a scientifically grounded medium of education and said Assamese does not face any inherent crisis.
He observed that since the early 1990s, many parents shifted children from Assamese-medium to English-medium schools under the misconception that English alone ensures success.
He said Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya was established in 1994 to uphold the relevance of mother-tongue education and added that institutions such as Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya, Sankardev Shishu Niketan and government Assamese-medium schools require renewed societal support.
He stressed that mother-tongue education is backed by science, not merely emotion or nationalism.
Abhijit Sarma Baruah, Secretary of Pranamo Matribhasa, said the mother tongue is never a barrier to acquiring knowledge and expressed concern that ignorance of Assamese has increasingly become fashionable in some circles.
He pointed out that despite language-related laws, Assamese is still not consistently used in official correspondence and urged the government to ensure stricter implementation.
No society, he said, can progress without nurturing its language.
Several other speakers, including retired principals and academicians Dr Sibaranjan Mahanta, Purneswar Nath, Aruna Devi of the Asomiya Club and Dhrubajyoti Bora of Sankardev Shishu Niketan, spoke on the linguistic challenges and prevailing social environment.
Research scholar and former Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya student Tridib Bhagawati said Assamese speakers have no reason to suffer from an inferiority complex.
Citing cultural examples, he noted that Assamese has earned global recognition, particularly through the works of Zubeen Garg, and appealed to people to actively use the language and support Assamese newspapers.
Senior journalist Prakash Mahanta criticised the lingering colonial mindset among sections of the middle class and said blind imitation of Western culture has adversely affected language and cultural confidence.
Drawing parallels with countries like Germany and China, as well as southern Indian states, he observed that societies rooted in their language and culture command global respect, citing the worldwide success of South Indian cinema as an example.
