Gaibandha Representative/

Santal girls danced and sang in Gaibandha to preserve and develop the language and culture of various communities including Santals. At the same time, a colorful procession was taken out in the city with banners, festoons. At the end of the procession, a two-hour cultural gathering was held by the youth of the Santal community.

The program was organized in front of Gaibandha DB Road Ganasas Market on Saturday (February 18) with the support of civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations. Hundreds of tribals participated in this program wearing their traditional clothes.

Member Secretary of Public Enterprises Prabir Chakraborty addressed the gathering, Educationist Professor Mazhar Ul Mannan, District Bar General Secretary and Adivasi Bengali Solidarity Parishad Advocate Sirajul Islam Babu, Sahebganj Bagda Farm Land Rescue Committee President Philemon Baske, Tribal Leader Priscilla Murmu, Adivasi Bengali Solidarity Parishad Sadar Upazila Convener Golam Rabbani Musa, Conscious Citizens Committee Vice President Ashok Saha, Student Leader Umme Nilufar Tinni, Social Struggle Parishad Member Secretary Hasan Morshed Dipan, District Rabidas Forum General Secretary Khilon Rabidas, Adivasi Youth Forum Leader Marijan Murmu and others.

The speakers said, even after so many years of independence, the demand of tribals in Bangladesh to get education in their mother tongue is being neglected. At present, the children of about 50 tribal groups in the country have been forgetting their own linguistic traditions, folktales, proverbs, etc. for generations. As tribal children are not literate in their mother tongue, their culture is also affected. A child’s personality, creativity, thoughtfulness and intelligence are developed through his mother tongue. Therefore, the importance of learning their own language and the alphabet of their own language for each of the poor tribal groups who are generally lagging behind in the education of the tribal children in this country is immense. But due to lack of practice, all these alphabets are now extinct. As a result, although the new generation of tribals can speak their own language, they are completely illiterate in their own language.

The speakers also said that to protect their own language and culture of tribals including Gaibandha, they demanded to take government initiatives to protect their language and culture including the establishment of textbooks for tribals, tribal cultural academy in Gaibandha district. This country has created an example all over the world by establishing the status of the language with the blood of the chest. But in this country, the linguistic minorities will be deprived of their mother tongue? Mother tongue is very important for development.