Guwahati, Dec 7: The Assam government is planning to impart primary education through the medium of tribal languages in select schools from the coming academic session.
“From the coming academic session, in line with the National Education Policy 2020, imparting of primary education through the medium of a few tribal languages in select schools too shall be introduced, keeping in mind a three-year roadmap ahead,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, while attending the ceremonial conferment of literary pension for the year 2023 to 23 litterateurs from the state at Lok Sewa Bhawan here on Thursday.
Notably, the Assam government had started the tradition of conferring literary pensions in the year 2021 marking the birth anniversary of late Homen Borgohain, a doyen of Assamese literature.
The litterateurs who were conferred with literary pension this year are — Sitaram Basumatary (Baksa), Jaya Deb (Cachar), Champa Lal Sinha (Cachar), Bagen Gogoi (Dhemaji), Anupama Naiding (Dima Hasao), Paritosh Chakkravorty (Goalpara), Molina Rabha (Goalpara), Malini (Jorhat), Seniram Gogoi (Golaghat), Jhoola Sarma (Golaghat), Ankon Chandra Saikia (Jorhat), Binanda Sarmah Pujari (Jorhat), Rajlakshmi Khound (Kamrup Metropolitan), Anil Kumar Boruah (Kamrup Metropolitan), Nandita Devi (Kamrup Metropolitan), Jayanta Madhab Bora (Kamrup Metropolitan), Renuka Biswas (Kamrup Metropolitan), Pratima Nandi Narzaree (Kokrajhar), Bijoy Rabi Das (Sivasagar), Dilip Kumar Baruah (Sonitpur), Gyan Bahadur Chetri (Sonitpur), Sumitra Goswami (Kamrup Metropolitan) and Mohan Sonowal (Dibrugarh).
Referring to the tribal communities as integral and inseparable parts of the greater Assamese society, the chief minister said the list of litterateurs selected for this year’s literary pensions also include writers and authors who write in tribal languages.
“Literary figures from Barak Valley too figure on this year’s list”, he added.
“As a mark of recognition towards Homen Borgohain’s contributions towards Assamese literature and the impact of his thoughtful thinking on the state’s socio-economic and intellectual sphere, the state government started the tradition of conferring literary pensions on this great litterateur’s birth anniversary after the latter’s death in the year 2021,” Sarma said.
Speaking on the steps taken to enrich the literary sphere in the state, the chief minister said the Assam Prakashan Parishad has been organising book fairs across the state with the aim of ushering in a book-reading movement among the people.
Referring to the standard of Assamese literary works such as novels and proses to be on a par with their counterparts from the rest of the country, Sarma said sincere attempts were being made to take the great Assamese literary works outside the perimeters of Assam.
He further appealed to the Assam Prakashan Parishad to annually translate at least 10 books in Assamese language to other major languages of the country so that avid readers of literature from outside the state could make themselves familiar with some of the finest literary creations.