Bangladesh indigenous students demand primary education in mother tongues
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| several hundred of students turned out in the rally under heavy rain in Khagrachari. Photo: Niron Chakma |
The Pahari Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the United People’s Democratic Front, on Saturday went out on demonstrations in Dhaka and the hill districts, demanding that the government should introduce a primary education system for the national minorities in which the mediums of instruction will be their mother-tongues.
Leaders of the organisation said that it was every human being’s basic right in a civilised society to be educated in their mother-tongue. They said that the government was not doing anything to protect and promote the languages of minority groups, but had rather launched linguistic aggression to destroy the cultures and languages of the minorities.
The demonstration was part of the PCP’s observance of the Education Day. The organisation brought out a procession on the Dhaka University campus and staged a rally.
Speakers at the impromptu rally urged the government to meet their five education-related demands, including primary education in their mother-tongues, renaming the Parbatya Quota for admission to educational institutions as Pahari Quota since the quota was being exploited by Bengali settlers in the CHT, and removal of ‘insulting’ words about the national minorities from textbooks.
They also condemned the imposition of ultra-chauvinist Bengali nationalism on minorities by amending the Constitution.
The PCP’s organising secretary Tuikyasing Marma and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation’s central convener Samiul Alam were among those who spoke at the rally.
Processions were also taken out in several places in Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban to underline the same demands.
Leaders of the organisation said that it was every human being’s basic right in a civilised society to be educated in their mother-tongue. They said that the government was not doing anything to protect and promote the languages of minority groups, but had rather launched linguistic aggression to destroy the cultures and languages of the minorities.
The demonstration was part of the PCP’s observance of the Education Day. The organisation brought out a procession on the Dhaka University campus and staged a rally.
Speakers at the impromptu rally urged the government to meet their five education-related demands, including primary education in their mother-tongues, renaming the Parbatya Quota for admission to educational institutions as Pahari Quota since the quota was being exploited by Bengali settlers in the CHT, and removal of ‘insulting’ words about the national minorities from textbooks.
They also condemned the imposition of ultra-chauvinist Bengali nationalism on minorities by amending the Constitution.
The PCP’s organising secretary Tuikyasing Marma and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation’s central convener Samiul Alam were among those who spoke at the rally.
Processions were also taken out in several places in Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban to underline the same demands.
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news courtesy: New Age
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