Free books for indigenous pupils
If indigenous
peoples can be groomed up
educationally, socially and
culturally, they can contribute
to the overall development
of the country
It is quite encouraging to note that the government, for the first time, is going to distribute free books for indigenous pupils in their own languages. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, the relevant authorities are preparing books for indigenous students from pre-primary to Class II for the first time in five languagesMarma, Chakma, Garo, Sadri and Tripura. A total of 51,782 copies of books would be distributed among 24,641 students. We welcome the governments initiative.
The total population of the ethnic communities in the country is more than two millions. They live in different places in the country. Since they have the rights to live with dignity like every other citizens, they cannot remain backward, they should come forward with the mainstream population. If they can be groomed up educationally, socially and culturally, they can contribute to the development of the country. Considering the demographic dividend, they can be assets for the country instead of
liabilities.
Education enlightens a person. By receiving the right kind of education a person can reach the zenith of success. Similarly, the people belonging to the ethnic community can also be partners of development for the country. Over the past few years the ethnic community people became victims of disparity and negligence. Their contributions have not been properly evaluated. What is needed now is to identify the problems facing the indigenous people and addressing those properly.
The present government has taken some measures for improving the lot of the indigenous community but much more should be done. If books for the indigenous pupils are available free of cost, it will facilitate in imparting proper education to them. The ethnic people should also have access to technical education equally. If it is done, they will acquire the skills to compete in the job market. It will not augur well to keep the indigenous people out of the development process. They should be allowed to play their roles in steering the country ahead.
In recent times the people of ethnic community have become victims of repression. Many of them have faced threat of eviction. The people who have a spiritual relationship with rivers, hills and nature have become victims of attacks by armed goons and land grabbers. It is high time for the government to protect these people from repression and intimidation. For achieving the MDG and SDG there is no scope to ignore the rights of the ethnic people.
