In the backdrop of National Education Policy 2020 and the recent decision of the government to include Kashmiri and Dogri Languages as official languages of the UT, the Kashmir and Jammu universities have decided to promote Kashmir and Dogri in their respective regions.
Earlier, during the 86th council meeting of Jammu University, held at Raj Bhavan here, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, who is also the Chancellor of the two Universities, impressed upon both the institutions to work out modalities for the promotion and use of Kashmiri, Dogri, Gojri, Pahari and other local languages in their respective regions.
Chairing a high level meeting of the two Universities, the Vice Chancellor, KU Prof Talat Ahmad stressed upon the participants to develop a concrete strategy for strengthening Kashmiri , Dogri and other regional languages for greater use in academics and administration in the two regions. The Vice Chancellor, University of Jammu, Prof Manoj Dhar and senior functionaries from both the universities attended the meeting.
Prof Talat also expressed the need to establish Regional Language Academies for the promotion of regional languages in the two regions of the J&K UT. Prof Manoj Dhar, VC informed that the Department of Dogri in JU and Department of Kashmiri in KU are being developed into centres of excellence for the promotion of the two languages and efforts are being made for the promotion of various other regional languages in the same direction.
Underlining the fact that best education takes place in mother tongue, Prof Talat stressed the importance of developing curriculum and content based on students’ needs. “This will empower the youth of J&K to play their crucial part in nation-building and make UT the centre of knowledge, enterprise, innovation, and skill development as envisaged in the New Education Policy-2020.” he added.
Appreciating the government’s intentions to promote local languages, the Vice Chancellors of the two Universities underlined the need for urgent action to prepare modalities and framework for strengthening the local languages at academic and administrative level. The VCs observed that the best possible methods of teaching and learning should be adopted in mother tongue along with the regular capacity building programmes for teaching and administrative staff.
Both the Vice Chancellors agreed to chalk-out a suitable and well defined strategy for continuous professional development for in-service teachers for use of Kashmiri, Dogri, Gojri, Pahari and other regional languages. They said it was also important to encourage and incentivise the translation of great literary works in various local/ regional languages. This will also help in promotion of the culture, traditions, and rich heritage of Jammu & Kashmir and the country, they said.