Date:31/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/31/stories/2007123158341300.htm

National

Assam literary body sets deadline for government

Special Correspondent

Guwahati: The Asam Sahitya Sabha on Saturday set an April deadline for total implementation of Assam’s official language in all spheres by the State government. April marks the beginning of the Assamese calendar year.

The apex literary body of the State also demanded that primary education in the mother tongue be made mandatory in both government and private English medium schools. If the government failed to meet the deadline, the Sabha would launch a Statewide, non-cooperation movement, its president Kanak Sen Deka told reporters here.

He said the Sabha was not against pupils learning English. But a foreign language should be taught only after they gained basic knowledge through the mother tongue at the primary level. It demanded that the government make Assamese a compulsory subject in English medium schools at the higher level.

The literary body decided to observe 2008 as “the year of taking education in mother tongue in Assam.”