As part of its ambitious programmes to protect, develop and expand the Kannada language, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has come up with a plan to introduce Kannada teaching at Madrasas — Muslim religious institutions.
Speaking to media representatives at the Conference Hall of the Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday, KDA Chairman Purushottama Bilimale clarified that teaching Kannada at Madrasas would be taken up at a few institutions on a pilot basis to gauge the response. He said it would be optional, not mandatory, for Madrasas.
“I hope that binding two languages [Urdu and Kannada] will bring the two religious groups closer and gradually bridge the gap between them. The idea is to identify a few Muslim youth and train them to teach Kannada to students at selected Madrasas. The KDA has already prepared a Kannada learning textbook for non-Kannada-speaking people. The same could be used to teach Kannada at Madrasas,” Mr. Bilimale said.
“We will facilitate Kannada teaching at Madrasas in complete cooperation and willingness of the latter. We have received a good response after we mooted the idea and many Muslim youth have come forward to take up the task. It is one of the several efforts of the KDA to save and expand Kannada language,” he said.
Retaining Kannada names
Expressing concerns over the challenges the original Kannada names of the places were facing, Mr. Bilimale said that the KDA would take up the task of preserving and adding them to Kannada lexicon.
“There are over 65,000 villages and settlements in the State. Around 60,000 of them have Kannada names. Most of the names of these places have words that are derived from nature such as Betta and Gudda (hill), Ooru and Halli (settlement/village), Neeru (water) and Nadi/Hole (river). Saving these Kannada names of the places means adding 60,000 Kannada words to the dictionary. We have prepared a plan and the Chief Minister has to approve it,” Mr. Bilimale said.
Sarojini Mahishi report
Terming the Sarojini Mahishi report as one of the important areas of KDA’s interest, Mr. Bilimale said that Karnataka had the challenge to balance between the rights of other linguistic communities to live in Karnataka and the rights of Kannadigas to protect and develop their mother tongue.
“The Sarojini Mahishi report recommended 100% reservation for Kannadigas in Group C and Group D posts in government establishments. Implementing the recommendation in toto may not be advisable as ours is a federal system and the linguistic communities have rights to get job opportunities and live in Karnataka just as Kannadigas have the same rights in other States. Reserving 80% or even 70% of posts for Kannadigas could be thought of. We need to strengthen our federal system and protect our language at the same time,” he said.
Limitations faced
Pointing to the limitations of KDA in terms of money, power and human resources, Mr. Bilimale admitted that the KDA could not take up the all the challenges that Kannada as a language was facing.
“The challenges that Kannada as a language was facing are multidimensional involving hundreds of issues. We too should have a multidimensional approach to face and resolve them. It is a gigantic task which KDA cannot take up considering its limitations in terms of finance, power and human resources. On the one hand, the government itself is opening 1,439 English-medium schools and the parents want to send their children there. On the other, the government Kannada-medium schools are closing for want of students. There are 55,000 teachers’ posts lying vacant in 45,000 government schools. 900 teaching posts are lying vacant at Mysore University. There are no new appointments for the last 20 years. The KDA cannot address all these issues that are directly linked with survival of Kannada,” he said.
Mr. Bilimale said that the KDA would take up the task of face-lifting the government Kannada schools which have completed 100 years with the funds provided by the government as well as funds mobilised through crowd-funding.
