Bhubaneswar, Aug 23: The Odisha government has taken a significant step towards the upliftment of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes by initiating a unique program to provide education in their mother tongue.
As part of this initiative, a programme has been launched where students from these marginalized communities will receive education in their native languages.
Under this program, 21 tribal languages will be introduced as the medium of education from the first to the third grade. Special supplementary textbooks are being developed for this purpose. Following this approach, every student will be taught in their mother tongue.
The development of teaching skills in teachers for imparting education in the mother tongue has also been a priority, and a four-day training program has been inaugurated by the Commissioner for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes along with the Principal Secretary of the administration, Rupa Roshan Sahu.
In the scheduled areas, an intensive multilingual training program for primary school teachers has been launched, which includes a fourteen-day specialized training session for teachers to enhance their skills in providing education based on digital content in the mother tongue. This program received recommendations from the Academy for Tribal Language and Culture.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by various officials, including the Director of the department, Indramani Tripathi, Joint Director Tuku Barik, Deputy Director Manoj Nayak, Assistant Director of SCSTRTI Madhusmita Sahu, Assistant Director of ATLC, and other contributors who have played vital roles in this endeavour.
This unique educational approach holds great promise for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in Odisha, promoting their linguistic and cultural heritage while providing them with a strong foundation in education.
