A day after the West Bengal Cabinet led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee approved a three-language formula where students across State-run schools in classes V-VIII, will have to study Bengali as a priority language, State Education Minister Bratya Basu on August 8 said that that government does not wish to impose Bengali.
The Minister said that the second and third languages will depend on the population pattern and ethnic profile of people living in a particular region.
The initiative of having three languages as a part of the curriculum comes in the new education policy being implemented in the State, at par with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. After the State Cabinet approved, a government official said that the “main idea is to teach Bengali to youngsters in West Bengal”.
On Tuesday, Mr. Basu clarified that a student is free to choose his first language and the State government will not interfere with it.
“In certain regions of the State, a student can choose Alchiki or Rajbanshi as the first language. You can also opt for Urdu as the first language,” he added. Mr. Basu asserted that government does not wish to impose Bengali as the second language.
The development as far as the three-language formula is concerned has not gone well with leaders of Darjeeling hills who said that West Bengal government should not make any attempt to impose Bengali on the people of Darjeeling.
Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba cautioned that protests had erupted in 2017 over similar attempts to impose Bengali on the people of the hills.
“Language is very sensitive issue for people of people across the country and for the people of Darjeeling hills. The Gorkha language or Nepali language is recognized under 8th Schedule of the Constitution. We would urge the Government to reconsider any proposal to impose Bengali language on the people of hills,” Mr. Zimba, who represents Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), told The Hindu.
The Darjeeling hills saw massive protests in July 2017 after the State government said that one of the three languages has to be Bengali. It led to a shutdown that later over 100 days and an economic blockade over the demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland; 11 people lost their lives.
