Encouraging and appreciating the young generations and infants to learn their mother tongue would help them to develop the moral values, confidence, self esteem, and their unique identity within a multicultural society.
Language is the fundamental tool of human communication which distinguishes it from other living creatures. The mother tongue is a system of communication used by a particular community, or a region, or even a country. Language plays a vital role in shaping of a cultural and traditional heritage.
It is the means with which we keep our identity unified. Encouraging and appreciating the young generations and infants to learn their mother tongue would help them to develop the moral values, confidence, self esteem, and their unique identity within a multicultural society. For example, people of Jammu district speak Dogri and are identified as Dogras, Kashmiris by Kashmiri, Pogal by Pogali, etc. Languages own the heritage of a region. By the introduction of mother tongue as a medium of communication and instruction it will help us to improve our educational standards and will help to mitigate high drop out rates because of the fact that they have a positive impact of their mother tongue. They can express their problems and solution in more lucid ways as their innocence and natural thought process has been built in their mother’s womb. Recently Government of India has come up with a new educational policy which stresses upon local and regional languages to be the medium for learning and now it is the prime responsibility of local administration to identify and give a place to local languages of the area. Due to lack of administrative and parental interest the craze for mother tongue is vanishing . Some people even feel guilty and shameful in expressing themselves in their mother tongue. They prefer English, Hindi or Urdu as a medium of communication with their families and relatives. We should feel proud while speaking and expressing ourselves in our mother tongue.
The purpose of celebrating Mother tongue day is to rejuvenate interest in youth for cultural revival by organising poetry recitations and singing programmes in the Kashmiri language. Despite being born Kashmiri, natives shy from speaking in their mother tongue. There is no doubt that feelings are expressed in mother tongue and its influence remains till one’s death. But the question is; why don’t we speak Kashmiri? Why do we feel disgraceful in speaking it? Kashmiri children have forgotten to speak in their mother tongue. We try to change the language of our children, don’t we? We tend to be foreigners in our own place, and our intent remains to impress others that our children don’t know Kashmiri. Everyone in the world knows that people in Kashmir speak Kashmiri. We have to change this situation and make an impression to revive our belonging towards our mother tongue. There is no shame in speaking or promoting one’s mother tongue. It is rather to be done with a sense of pride.
Although Kashmiri is introduced as a subject in the school curriculum yet it is treated step motherly. Still would one find scores of schools were students are banned to speak Kashur? Tall promises by the people at the helm of affairs remain up to the papers only .Introducing Kashmiri as a subject at +2 level and college is just a formality and nothing else. In schools this subject is slaughtered stealthily. It is treated so cheaply that it is even not taught seriously. On is stunned when during exams no teacher of the institution is able to read the question paper for the students except the one who has taught them. See the step-motherly approach of people around. All papers of the examination get computerized except Kashmiri, and the silly reason is that its soft-ware is difficult to be typed. Who will speak this language if its inheritors will not? Our children, our asset, are banned by school authorities, especially private institutions, not to speak Kashmiri. Â Good parents visit weekly to the school offices for suggesting development of English communication habits but have we ever seen any parent suggesting the same about Kashmir language.
We know so many poets and writers of Urdu and English languages. It is a good factor if we equally know poets and scholars of our own language.Reading John Keats and leaving Rasool Mir is not the justice.It simply shows our indifference towards the language that we have inherited from our parents. Reading Shakespeare, John Keats, Wordsworth, Hardy, Hazlitt, GB Shaw, Milton, Donne and so many other writers is no doubt important but equally important are the towering figures like ShaikhulAalum, Rasool Mir, WahabKhar, Lal Ded, Habba Khatoon, Mehjoor, Ahad Zargar, Soch Kral and even the poets who belong to the generation of Prof Rehman Rahi and Rafiq Raaz, Ashraf Sahil, Zareef Ahmad Zareef, Mashal Sultanpuri, Rafeeq Naziki, Fazil Kashmiri, Ameen Kamil etc. Our research scholars have so much of wealthier content available to do the research on these poets .But how painful they are lost within other languages. Alumdar-i-Kashmir (RA) and host of others would not have been saintly reputed had they not written in their own MaejZaev.
It is said that if we want to demolish a nation, demolish its language first. One gets hurt when one finds that English and Urdu have replaced our MaejZaev. When we look around we find it very least spoken. English language which has entered our kitchen now has almost replaced our MajeZaev. If we won’t wake up then the day is not far when we will find ourselves struggling for the identity.We must put in efforts to get it back on the track. We must love this language above anything else and against all odds we must try to pass on this rich language to our future generations. We Kashmiris must look around ourselves and see how different people promote and propagate their languages.Agreed that Urdu is an official language and should be promoted but that does not mean we can slaughter our mother tongue. Prof RehmanRahi, GiyanPeet Awardee, wouldn’t have been so renowned had he not proved his pen in any other language than his own. R.N.Tagore, Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, would have never written a famous book Gitanjale, had he not written his poems in his mother-tongue Bengali first .They say, a person can express his feelings and emotions better in no other language than his own. Let’s join hands to save our sweet mother tongue from getting any more mutilated and slaughtered.
Studies have shown that cognitive development and intellectual development are comparatively faster in fluent in their mother tongue. The educational success of a student who is taught in mother tongue is higher than someone who is taught in a language other than their mother tongue.Languages are the primary means of keeping our culture alive. Often, the direct translation of one language into another cannot convey the same essence as in the source language. Therefore, the best way to know a culture thoroughly is to understand the language. The mother tongue helps us stay connected to our traditional, cultural values and our roots. When a person knows his or her mother language well, it is easier for them to learn a new language. If a child reads in his or her mother tongue from an early age, they will have more substantial reading and writing skills in other languages.
Commercial advantages. Businesses are going the local way, so the importance of mother tongues has increased exponentially. It is beneficial to know your mother tongue to communicate with your local customers if you want to become an entrepreneur. The possibilities of making money with the help of one’s mother language are enormous in today’s economy.
A child first comprehends what is around them through the language they hear their mother communicating in, from before they are born and thought their lives. Many children across the developing world are learning very little in school, a reality that can be linked to teaching that is in a language they do not fully understand. It is a practice that leads to limited or non-existent learning and acquisition of knowledge and skills, alienating experiences, and high drop-out and repetition rates.
To improve the quality of education, languages policies need to take account of mother-tongue learning. Models of education which ignore the mother tongue in the early years can be unproductive, ineffective and have a negative effect on children’s learning. Mother-tongue education at least in early years can enable teachers to teach, and learners to learn more effectively.
