‘Council can challenge any decision posing threat to indigenous culture’
SHILLONG: The KHADC Executive Committee has not taken kindly the decision of the MBoSE to make Khasi an elective subject at the higher secondary level.
Taking strong exception to the Board’s move, KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum said the Council would not tolerate any attempt to undermine the Khasi language.
“We have taken strong exception to the decision of the MBoSE to make Khasi as an elective subject. This is a clear attempt on the part of the Board to de-popularize Khasi language,” Nongrum told newsmen here on Thursday adding that Section 29 (1) of the Sixth Schedule empowers the Council to challenge any decision which poses threat to the indigenous language and culture.
Meanwhile, HSPDP vice president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit also called for immediate scrapping of the Board’s decision to derecognize Khasi as a compulsory subject at the higher secondary level.
“I do not think that the Board has got the mandate to take such a major decision. Such a decision has to come from the Government,” Basaiawmoit said.
He said the decision will have “a deep impact on the structure of the Khasi indigenous community”.