STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: As per the directions of IGNOU Headquarters regarding Matribhasha Diwas, a discussion was held at the Regional Centre here with a view to promote the use of mother tongues in open and distance learning system of education.
All the staff members of IGNOU Regional Centre Jammu including Regional Director, Dr. Joginder Kumar Yadav, Assistant Regional Directors, Dr. Sandeep Gupta, Dr. Asha Upadhaya and Vikram Singh and also Assistant Registrar, T.P Singh were present and participated in the discussion with lot of enthusiasm.
Regional Director, Dr. Joginder Kumar Yadav expressed his views regarding using of Matribhasha so that the linguistic diversity of the region is preserved. He also stressed on the need of converting the material of some of the programmes of IGNOU into local language and on the same matter various inputs were received from the other staff members and on further discussions on the matter, it was resolved to try and convert some of the material into local language for which a proposal would be sent to the Headquarters.
T.P Singh, AR, said that local language should not be forgotten. It should be preferred to all other languages. He also said that in Punjab, Panjabi language is used in Punjab and the language is the official language of the State and if anybody violates its use, he is liable to be punished under the law of the State. He also said that besides Matribhasha we should learn other languages as well.
Vikram Singh spoke on the occasion and said that people are using mixed languages and could not speak pure Dogri which has been included in the Constitution of India. He said Dogri should be made compulsory in the State and appealed to all to teach their children Dogri language.
Dr. Sandeep Gupta said that the day is celebrated as International Day and added that use of Matribhasha (local language) has also been recognised by the UNESCO. He said that they in Banaras use local language. He further said that besides Matribhasha, we should promote every language mentioning that we first speak in English and then convert it into other language and also we should teach our children mother tongue.
Dr. Asha Upadhaya, ARD, said that first of all we should respect our Matribhasha. She said that it is also important to learn other languages so that people may not have to depend to understand other languages; we should learn every language, so that we do not feel any difficulty anywhere. Dara Singh, EA, said that it is beneficial to use local language and the local language should be given first preference. Sonali Koul said that Kashmiri language is a mixture of different languages, especially Sanskrit and this language is not so easy to learn. She said “we have forgotten our Matribhasha and have been using other languages and we should teach our children to speak in Matribhasha.”