Amendment to Manipur Official Language Act for inclusion of Meetei Mayek delayed
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, June 02 2011:
The state cabinet is yet to give its approval even as an expert committee has prepared a cabinet memorandum to rectify "written in Bengali Script' in the Manipur Official Language Act 1979 as "written in Bengali or Meetei Mayek script" .
Following a cabinet decision taken on May 18, 2005, Manipuri language written in Meetei Mayek was introduced to the schools.
As Meetei Mayek is popularizing since the introduction of the same in the schools, the matter of insertion of Meetei Mayek in the Official Language Act comes up.
For inserting the same, a cabinet memorandum was prepared in February last year but the same is not given approval by the cabinet.
The rectification in the Official Language Act is to be made after an amendment bill to the Act is tabled in the House of the state Assembly after cabinet.
A cabinet approval is a must before tabling the bill.
An official of the Education (S) Department, Manipuri Language Cell said that after a thorough research was conducted to fix the script, government approved the Meetei Mayek in 1977 and was started teaching in the schools from 1980 .
However, exam for the subject was not conducted.
It was only to popularize the script, the official said.
He also expressed the need for upgrading the Manipuri Language Cell of the Education Department into a directorate as the cell is not only deal with Manipuri language but work for development of other languages of the other communities and tribes of the state.