From 2008, state to have Santhali medium schools

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 19

From 2008 Academic session West Bengal will have Santhali medium schools at the primary level.
“After the constitution included Santhal in its list of languages there has been a steady interest and so we have decided to offer it as a medium of instruction,” said school education minister Partha De. “If the demand is high we won’t mind having a separate Santhali medium school in the area,” he added.
West Bengal was the first state to recognise Ol Chiki as the official script for Santhali. As per the recommendations made by Himangshu Bimal Mazumdar Commission in 1978, books of all subjects are available in Ol Chiki up to Cass IV. The Ol Chiki books for Class V will be ready before the 2008 academic session begins. “We are discussing ways to facilitate Santhali medium of instruction up to Madhyamik level, but first we have to see that the books are ready,” De said.
Currently over 2,15,000 students in West Midnapore, Bankura, Burdwan and Nadia district have shown interest in studying in Santhali. The state government is conducting a survey to see how many more Santhali parents would want their children to study in the in the new medium. Once it is done by December the state government would decide on how many school would offer dual medium of instruction or will be converted into Santhali medium schools.
The school education ministry will hire experts to translate books to Ol Chiki. “I have made it clear that Santhali will be the medium of instruction but it will be within the periphery of Primary Education Board and Madhyamik Board. The Adivasi Socio- Educational and Cultural Association has also agreed to our initiative,” said De.
The state government has already trained some teachers to teach in Ol Chiki and is ready to recruit more teachers if there is demand. The government has also made it clear that even for Santhali medium schools the teacher recruitment norm will be similar to other institutions. Which means that the schools will have to recruit teachers through Primary School Council where as the secondary schools will recruit teachers through School Service Commission. The school education department would also write to the state higher education department to include Santali and Ol Chiki scripts for method teaching in B.Ed course. The Shantali medium method teaching will be included on primary teachers training programmes too.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com