Poumai Naga Union (PNU), Gangte Students' Organisation (GSO) object
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 02 2013:
Registering strong objection to the new scheme of study introduced by; the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSEM) in scrapping Additional English from the list of First Language, the Poumai Naga Union (PNU) and Gangte Students' Organisation (GSO) have urged the authority concerned to accelerate the process of inclusion of some dialects such as Poumai, Gangte and Liangmai in BSEM school syllabus.
The move of the BSEM is discriminatory in nature to students belonging to communities whose dialects/languages are not yet introduced in School, said a PNU statement signed by its president, Ng Lorho.
In a separate statements, the PNU and GSO conveyed their grievances over the alleged negligence and delay tactics of the authority concerned towards the recognition and introduction of three tribal dialects such as Poumai, Gangte and Liangmai in school syllabus upto Class VIII.
It added that the new move of the BSEM in scrapping Alt Eng from the lists of First Language has compelled some students to offer any language which they did not learn at any stage, which amounts to 'imposition' .
The statements pointed out that related file for the inclusion of the three tribal dialects has been remaining pending at the Secretariat since June 22, 2011 even though the concerned tribes have fulfilled the conditions and criteria laid down by the authority.
Information and publicity secretary of GSO, Paulallien Gangte has urged the concerned authority to speed up the process of introducing unrecognised dialects in school syllabus before the already marginalised students felt it more so.
The PNU has further warned of launching series of agitation if the grievances are not looked into at the earliest.
The PNU also mentioned that the population of Poumai tribe is 181347 and there are 119 schools in Poumai inhabited areas.
Text books published by Poumai Literature Committee in 'Poula' dialect have been taught in schools on voluntary basis since ten years back.