Centre of Excellence to promote Odia language

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Sep 17: Odisha Government is contemplating establishment of a Centre of Excellence to facilitate further development of Odia language, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said here today.Researchers and scholars may join hands in this mission, he added.The Chief Minister announced that a high level committee has been set up by the State Government taking eminent scholars and researchers to suggest modalities for taking further steps for development of Odia language.The decision to set up a high level committee was taken after Odia language was granted classical language status establishing its ancient origin, extensive evolution and richness.Patnaik made the announcement while releasing a book titled ‘Languages and Cultural Diversity’ written by Debi Prasanna Pattanayak at a function held at the IDCOL Auditorium here.While praising Pattanayak as a prolific writer on issues of language and education, Patnaik said the author has advocated for multi-lingualism and mother-tongue education all through his life.“In this publication, he has lucidly explained the rationale of multilingualism,” he observed.The Chief Minister observed that mother tongue based education improves access to education, facilitates learning a second or foreign language, improves internal educational efficiency and improves children’s self-confidence and identity.Weakness in language at primary stage cannot sustain quality technological super-structure.“In this context, it is pertinent to mention here that mother tongue is the best medium to start learning especially during primary education of a child,” Patnaik observed. This has been accepted in the UN document 1953 to which India is also a signatory, he said.He further observed that Odisha stands on the forefront of all States which has initiated multilingual education among 26 tribal language speakers.“Our English teachers should find out methodology to teach two or three languages in one class. For example, the Indian students going for studies in Moscow have to go through immersion training on Russian language for 12 weeks initially to facilitate further study.” Stating that Pattanayak has suggested creative engagement with languages for facilitating different experiments in the field of knowledge acquisition, the Chief Minister emphasised that educationist should conduct further research to take it to a logical end.Among others Debi Prasana Pattanayak, Udai Rao, Haraprasad Das and Supriya Patnaik were present on the occasion.