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PB Acharya speaks at the ANHTU’s silver jubilee celebration in Kohima on Thursday, November 22.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, Nov. 22 (EMN): The All Nagaland Hindi Teachers’ Union (ANHTU) celebrated its silver jubilee at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Kohima on Thursday, Nov. 22.
Among others, the union was formed with the primary objective of safeguarding the rights of government Hindi teachers; and to undertake welfare activities and promote unity and cooperation among its members.
As the Hindi teachers celebrated the silver jubilee, it was informed that the Nagaland government had released pending salaries of the teachers due for three months.
Speaking during the occasion as the keynote speaker, Nagaland Governor PB Acharya said the mother tongue is the first and foremost identity of any person. He said speaking in own mother tongue brings people closer and acts as a bridge towards building bonds between people.
However, he also pointed that Hindi being the national language, has to be given its due honour, and opined that people need to put away regional biases and promote one’s own language so that an important component of our identity and heritage is not lost.
India being a secular and democratic nation with rich diversity, Acharya said, Hindi as a common medium for communication can be the bridge to bring the Nation together adding that India has the opportunity, capacity and potential to become a great nation in the world.
To the teachers, he said as mentors and role models for students, teachers are instrumental in moulding and nurturing the students. He also maintained that it is the bounded duty of any teacher to go beyond the primary role of imparting academic education; rather the ultimate goal should be to empower the students with life’s core values of hardwork, honesty and sincerity.
The teachers were also urged to continue to play a vital role as ‘architect and game changers’ in the lives of students by inspiring and encouraging them to strive for excellence and guiding them to reach their fullest potential.
Acharya also asked the teachers to guide and teach the students to come out of the self-centred agenda to become rich but be the ‘agent of change and strengthen the society and the nation.’
Noting the many grievances of the teachers, Acharya while conceding that their grievances need to be understood to create a congenial environment for learning also reminded the teachers that asserting their rights should not be done at the cost of the students’ education.
The principal secretary for School Education, Menukhol John appreciated the Hindi teachers for choosing to teach one of the richest and most expressive languages, and urged them to carry forward the language of Hindi to greater heights.
Citing instances where Hindi teachers teach other subjects as well, John said, they are an added asset and that they should continue to be the ‘double edged sword’ in the place of postings.
Stating that Hindi has now become a renowned language, director of school education, Wonthungo Tsopoe stressed on the need to take learning of Hindi seriously by everyone. Towards this end, the teachers were asked to create Hindi learning more fun and joyful for the students, and not create a ‘phobia’ like math and science.
It was learnt through a brief write up in the souvenir that only after the state got its statehood, Hindi was given more importance though its scripts were alien and people had diverse opinion towards Hindi.
Before statehood, Hindi was taught in some government schools where even Assamese was taught in some few schools apart from teaching mother tongue in few local dialects. At the initial stage, it was learned that people from outside Nagaland used to teach Hindi subject, wherein retired army personnel were recruited as Hindi teachers.
However, as years passed by, gradually Naga youths were inspired and went to study Hindi at Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha and began teaching in the schools.
As the number of Hindi teachers increased, the government started deputing Hindi teachers in recognised private schools.
During the year 1988-95 textbooks for classes V-VIII were developed in coordination with the Central Hindi Institute, Agra, and subsequently in 1996 with the help of ANHTU experts textbooks for class IX and X were developed under Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE).
It was also informed that till date textbooks for class IX-XII is being prepared under NBSE and published by Nagaland Bhasha Parishad.
With the initiative of the state government and central assistance in 2004-12, 1579 Hindi teachers were appointed and textbooks for class 1-VIII were developed by the State Council Educational Research & Training (SCERT) by Hindi teacher experts.