Dr. Shikha Magotra
While taking enough care of whole of us, we often neglect our feet. Though it is our feet only which carry the burden of whole body and enable us to walk through each and every phase of life. Can we think of ourselves to live healthy life independently without feet. How much difficult it would be if we could not walk on our own feet!
Same is happening with our culture too. We are undoubtedly, consistently watering the abundant leaves and fruits of Duggar cultural tree and even cherishing the taste of its fruits too. But, what about its roots, our feet- Dogri. They are starving. It’s disheartening to say that nobody is paying enormous attention towards them. They remain unwatered and struggling to survive while holding the tree altogether. We must think- How long will the tree survive when roots starves! How far can we go when the feet are gone! How much our culture can live when the language has gone extinct !
It’s deeply saddening that there is currently no provision for educating our children in their mother tongue- Dogri at elementary level in their own state of dialect. Even when Dogri is an official language of J&K UT already and it has been included in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution too.
Also, there are around 400 higher secondary schools in Jammu province only and still only one of them has appointed Lecturer for Dogri language. Moreover, the most recent advertisement for the appointment of Lecturers in J&K released yesterday also provides negligible vacancy for Dogri language. Among all 575 posts, only 3 has been declared for Dogri language.
This is struck against the National education policy (NEP) which supports and encourages students to study in their mother tongue. But, according to the current advertisement, the recruitment process of government denies the students’ rights to study in their mother tongue- Dogri.
Looking at the demographics of the UT, there are more than 5 lakh Dogri speakers in Jammu province only which contributes to half the population of Jammu. And also, the UT has enormous youth potentially literate to be recruited as lecturers and other posts in government for Dogri. We have around 40+ PhD holders in Dogri and around 1500+ M.A. graduates already in the UT.
Isn’t it threatening for ourselves that even after having skilled youth, we are forcefully depriving our young generation to study in their mother tongue-Dogri.
Given the high number of qualified Dogri scholars, the UT has an urge for the appointment of Dogri lecturers in all higher secondary schools, with at least two lecturer per school. Many talented Dogri scholars remain underutilized. Institutions should prioritize hiring these scholars, and the government should incentivize schools to implement and promote Dogri programs.
Further to foster education in regional languages at elementary levels, Dogri needs a structured curriculum aligned with the NEP’s emphasis on regional languages, including textbooks, resources, and extracurricular activities that foster Dogri heritage.
Dogri’s heritage and influence in Jammu’s identity must be acknowledged and respected, being an official language of the UT. This is high time that we must realise that the actions we are taking aren’t going towards digging our own graves eventually.
