37 languages on verge of extinction in Nepal are being preserved
MyRepublic,
Published On: February 21, 2022, 11:21 AM NPT
KATHMANDU, Feb 21: The Language Commission has started the preservation of a total
of 37 languages with less than 1,000 native speakers in order to save them from
extinction.
At a seminar jointly
organized by the Commission, Nepal Academy, and UNESCO on Monday on the occasion
of International Mother Language Day, it was shared that among the 37
languages, 23 are already on the verge of extinction.
Presenting a working
paper, Commission's Chairperson Dr. Lavdev Awasthi said that the Commission
began preserving those languages in association with the University Grant
Commission.
On occasion, Dr.
Sulochana Manandhar presented a paper on popular Nepali fairy tales and
interrelated relations between humans and the environment while Dr. Balkrishna Bal
shed light on the technical process of translation of languages.
Similarly, Dr. Som Bahadur
Dhital presented his paper on the Dhimal language and its relation with cultures.
All the paper presenters univocally called for the preservation of the mother languages
of various ethnic communities.
Inaugurating the event,
Academy's Chancellor Ganga Prasad Uprety said that the program was organized to
support the preservation as well as conservation of all mother languages in a multilingual society like ours.
Similarly, the secretary at
the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Maheshwor Neupane viewed
that the State should ensure that mechanisms, infrastructures, and human
resources to provide education to students in their respective mother languages
as mandated by the constitution.
He underscored
coordination among three-tier governments to preserve and conserve mother
languages.
Likewise, member-secretary
at the Academy Jagat Prasad Upadhyay underlined coordination among various
universities and stakeholder agencies to provide education across multiple mother
languages. He shared that a study showed that every 15 days, two languages were
being extinct across the world.
UNESCO representatives
Nirjana Sharma, representatives from the Bangladeshi Embassy in Nepal Ishrat
Jahan, and scholar Yogendra Prasad Yadav among others reaffirmed their commitment
to continue with the collaboration among the stakeholders for the preservation
of the mother languages.
The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Programme (UNESCO) 2000 declared to
observe International Mother Language Day every February 21.
(RSS)
