Ethnic tongues dying amid poor preservative efforts in Bangladesh

Ethnic languages have been in a dire state in Bangladesh with so many tongues dying due to lack of users and preservation measures from concerned authorities.

Experts, coinciding with International Mother Language Day on Feb. 21, are urging the government to invest more to restore alphabets of ethnic minorities, train teachers and teach in mother tongues.

According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened as more and more languages disappear. Globally, 40% of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.

UNESCO in 1999 recognised Bangladeshis' love for their mother tongue and subsequent struggle to uphold Bangla as the state language of then-undivided Pakistan in 1952.

Bangladesh, with a population of 170 million, is now struggling to protect the enriched culture of many ethnic languages and users.

According to a linguistic survey of the International Mother Language Institute (IMLI) in 2018, 14 ethnic languages, mostly spoken in north Bangladesh, eastern Sylhet region, and the Chattogram Hill Tracts, were declared endangered.

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Many have only 10-12 native speakers and do not have a written form or alphabet.

Call for preservationist measures

Shohel Chandra Hajang, an indigenous human rights defender and a member of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, told Anadolu Agency that there are 4 million indigenous people in the hills and plains of Bangladesh.

“They speak in 40 ethnic languages but the tongues have been facing the threat of annihilation due to lack of education in the mother tongue, users and government investment in preservation methods,” he said. “I don’t know when my people will be taught in their mother tongue in the future,” he said in frustration. “We are struggling to preserve our mother tongue for generations amid lack of educated users due to the absence of primary education in the mother language as granted by the country’s constitution.”

The government launched a project in 2017 of introducing pre-primary education in mother languages under the obligatory of the Constitution.

Initially, the government served three books in each of five ethnic languages under the project from class one to three.

But the program is poorly equipped, lack trained teachers and book availability. Many children among indigenous groups could not start learning, said Hajang.

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We, ourselves, have been trying to restore some of our languages and alphabets but due to a lack of financial support we could not take our effort further, he said.

“We are proud of being entitled with the International Mother Language Day on the sacrifice of men of the land but it’s quite disappointing that so many other languages are seen dying in the same land,” said Hajang.

He alleged that the Bangla Academy and the IMLI are not doing enough to protect the history, literature and culture of ethnic groups. He appealed to them to work on a language dictionary of endangered languages.

Shourav Sikder, a linguist at Dhaka University, told Anadolu Agency that an initiative to introduce mother tongue pre-primary education was started to preserve endangered languages.

“But providing books is part of the job and to gain success we will have to ensure sufficient teaching materials including teachers and regular schooling,” he said. “We faced difficulties implementing the program in some languages, including among Chakma, an ethnic group in the hilly district, as they don’t have enough members who can read and write and carry the job of teaching.”

“Some ethnic languages don’t have their own alphabet and subsequent complexity has emerged over adopting a fresh alphabet. IMLI can resolve it in consultation with linguists,” he said.

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He also said he believed IMLI failed to serve the purpose for which it was established. The institute remained in a sorry state due to negligence from higher authorities.

He suggested the institute be an autonomous body like the Bangla Academy to meet the goal of preserving endangered languages and research.

Government claims to be preserving ethnic tongues

A. K. M. Reazul Hassan, a member of the government's Bangladesh National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), told Anadolu Agency that five languages came first in the initial stage.

“So many other languages remain in the pipeline for implementation of pre-primary education in their mother language in the forth-coming academic years,” he said. “The NCTB is also working to restore alphabets that were distorted and adopt new alphabets for those who don't have sign-in consultation with linguists of University of Dhaka, IMLI and representatives of respective languages.”

“We don’t have enough teachers and educated users among those ethnic groups which made the job difficult,” he explained.

“Therefore, we are arranging training and other efforts to meet the constitutional obligation of providing education in their mother language. After completion of the pre-primary education, they will be provided with mainstream academic curriculums,” he said.