Bhopal: Students Learn Marathi, Malayalam To Break Linguistic Barriers | FP Photo
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In a unique initiative, Government Subhash Higher Secondary School of Excellence at Shivaji Nagar is teaching Indian languages other than their mother tongues to students to break linguistic barriers and promote national unity. It will also enable students to know the culture and literature of the speakers of other languages.
The school has begun with Marathi and Malayalam and will soon include Kannada and Tamil. Marathi classes are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Malayalam on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The classes began 15 days ago and till now the students have learnt alphabets, names of week days and colours and numbers from 1-20. They have also learned how to introduce themselves in simple words in two languages.
Students are also learning to read and write the two languages. The classes will continue till December after which the students will take a test to check how much they have learned. The marks will have no impact on their examination results.
Swatantrata who teaches Marathi said, “Some students are learning how to write too.” Class 9 student Himani who is learning Marathi said, “I can name the main colours in Marathi and can count numbers up to 20. I am enjoying all this.”
Aswathy from Kerala teaches Malayalam. She has begun with names of week days, colours and also small sentences to introduce one self. “Malayalam is a tongue-twisting language and it will take some time for children to learn proper pronunciation,” she says.
“I am a Maharashtrian. I am learning Malayalam because I am interested in learning a new language. So, I have joined this class,” says Taruni, a Class 9 student. I can form simple sentences in Malayalam, she said.
Some teachers are taking advantage of the new initiative. Aparna, a commerce teacher at the school, attends Malayalam class with students. “Learning for doing or doing for learning is always good,” she says.
Language binds people together
Sudhakar Parashar, principal, Govt Subhash of Excellence said,”Language binds people together. It is the window to a linguistic group’s literature and culture. We have taken this initiative to help break artificial walls created by languages.”
