Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wrote to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand on Friday seeking their intervention into the non-supply of Odia textbooks to Odia students and appointment of Hindi-speaking teachers in Odia medium schools in bordering villages. Pradhan, who hails from Odisha, has stressed the need to “securing” Odia language education for its Odia-speaking population in his letters to AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
“It is noted that requisite support is not being extended to the students of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts who wish to learn Odia. In Odisha, support is extended to the students opting to learn Telugu as a language subject in schools, including recruiting teams, from the same. Similar support to Odia minority students in Andhra Pradesh is the need of the hour,” Pradhan said in his letter to Reddy.
“The government of Andhra Pradesh is yet to supply textbooks to the Odia medium students in class 10. Schools have reopened in AP, but Odia textbooks are yet to reach the students. Srikakulam district has many Odia students in high schools who have not yet received Odia books for the current academic year. This will adversely affect the education of the Odia-minority students in AP and the cause of maintenance of linguistic diversity in the state,” he added.
In his letter to Soren, the Union minister stated that around 20 lakh Odia-speaking people live in Jharkhand today and that during the formation of the state it was ensured that Jharkhand shall recognise Odia-speaking people as linguistic minorities. After a series of struggles and agitations, the Jharkhand government recognised Odia, along with five other regional languages, as the state’s second official language in 2011, he said.
The education minister also highlighted five major issues being faced by the Odia students in the bordering villages of Jharkhand, including the appointment of Hindi-speaking teachers in Odia medium schools. He said despite being given the copyright, the state has not taken up publication of Odia books based on the NCERT curriculum framework.
In his letter, Pradhan noted that Odia medium schools were being merged with the Hindi medium schools in the regions with substantial groups of Odia-speaking communities.
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