4-language formula for schools with thrust on Assamese

Assam Art and Culture

21-Dec-19

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Amidst fears of a threat to the State’s language and culture in the wake of the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the State government has adopted a four-language formula to be introduced from the next academic session with a thrust on learning Assamese in all the mediums of schools.
While the government initially intends to implement it in government schools, official sources said efforts will be made subsequently to cover the private schools as well.
According to a notification, the State government has adopted three models for the upper primary level schools in the State, facilitating several mother languages spoken by different communities of the State to be incorporated in the curriculum for elementary level from the next academic session as part of the Language Strategy Document of SCERT.
The new four-language formula will ensure that students in all medium of schools have to learn Assamese for at least 50 marks.
According to the notification, for Bengali medium schools, the second language (L2) is English and for L3 the students will have to opt for either cent per cent for Assamese or 50 per cent Assamese and the rest 50 any other of 13 other languages.
Similarly, in Bodo medium schools, the second language will be English while the third has to either completely Assamese or a combination of Assamese and any of the thirteen other languages.
There will be similar models for schools with the medium of instruction other than Assamese, English and Hindi. For English medium schools, L2 will be Assamese. For Hindi medium schools, L3 will be Assamese.
In a nutshell, the new formula will ensure that in any medium of schools, the students learn Assamese. Moreover, students whose mother language is Garo, Tiwa, Tai, Rabha, Deori, Mising, Bishnupuriya Manipuri, Sanskrit, Arabic, etc., can opt and learn their language as well in elementary level.
The new four-language formula, which is not similar to the national three-language formula, was adopted after threadbare consultations with all the Sahitya Sabhas. “The new formula was agreed with a consensus.
Also, Nepali language has been withdrawn as a medium of instruction as the Nepali-speaking students “like to opt for Assamese, Hindi or English mediums”. But Nepali language has been retained as a subject.