Media Release
Udupi, Feb 22: The Matribhasha Diwas 2022 events curated by the Department of Languages (DoL), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), comes at an opportune moment in furthering the spirit of the National Education Policy 2020 and the UNESCO’s thrust on equitable and multilingual education. In this regard, V Sunil Kumar, minister of Kannada and Culture and the Energy Department spoke words of warm praise about MAHE’s efforts in developing academic pathways for Kannada and regional languages.
Dr P L N G Rao, pro vice chancellor, MAHE, stressed the importance of mother tongue in education and highlighted the role of MAHE and the department in enhancing language education across disciplines. Dr Shobha Kamat added that it has now become crucial for medical and engineering students and professionals to communicate in their mother tongues and other Indian languages.
Professor Purushottam Bilimale, in his keynote address, threw light on the loss of languages and drew attention to the rapid decline in the number of speakers of minority languages, such as Kodava and Koraga. He touched on the need for policy reforms in language education across the country. With the strong belief that primary education in the mother tongue should be made compulsory in the country, he spoke about changes that can be effectuated in the teaching of Indian languages. On this note, he presented his online platform ‘Kannada Kalike’, which hosts multiple pedagogical innovations in the teaching of the language.
This talk was followed by a panel discussion titled ‘Kannada Language Pedagogy: Developments and Potentialities’ with eminent scholars- professor Purushottama Bilimale, JNU, Delhi; professor Robert Zeydenbos, University of Munich; professor R V S Sundaram, former chair, Indian Council for Cultural Relations; and professor Rahul Putty, DoL, MAHE, moderated by professor Neeta Inamdar and Dr Prithviraj Kavatar. Drawing on comparative perspectives between teaching European and Indian languages, each panelist dwelt on conceptual and theoretical basis of Kannada language pedagogy, it’s evolution over the years, and the present need to develop clear standards of gauging language proficiency.
The two-hour event was interspersed with cultural performances-Gamaka Vachana of a few verses from Kumaravyasa Bharata by Padmashri H R Keshavamurthy, readings illustrating the intimate bonds shared by Tulu, Malayalam and Havyaka Kannada by professor Mahalinga Bhat of St Aloysius College, Mangaluru and as an apt conclusion, a rendition of ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’, featuring a Tulu verse, as a tribute to Bharatratna late Lata Mangeshkar, by Pallavi Manipal.