‘Native Speakers’ to keep Koya language alive among soon-to-be displaced tribal children in Chintoor agency of Andhra Pradesh

In an initiative aimed at revitalising the Koya tribal language, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to rope in ‘Native Speakers’ who will teach the students of the primary schools in their native language in Chintoor agency of Alluri Sitarama Raju district.

The School Management Committee (SMC) has been entrusted with the task of identifying and engaging the native speakers, who should be living in that particular village or gram panchayat. The SMC is formed with the parents of the students enrolled in the respective schools.

The United Nations Organisation (UNO) has declared 2022-32 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages and its estimates claimed that ‘‘at least 50 percent of today’s spoken languages will be extinct or seriously endangered by 2100”.

Decks cleared

By August 10, the Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare Department has given its approval for appointment of 15 native speakers (Koya language) in Chintoor agency covering six schools in V.R. Puram mandal, five in Yatapaka mandal and one in Chintoor mandal.

“As many as 323 tribal students of class 1 to 3 enrolled in the 12 government schools will be taught in their mother tongue under the initiative titled Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE)“, said an order issued by the Tribal Welfare Department (August 10).

“The native speakers have almost been appointed in the Chintoor agency. Their primary task is to teach the academic syllabus, prescribed by the State government, in their native language (Koya),” Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA-Chintoor) Project Officer Suraj Ganore told The Hindu.

The School Management Committee will pay the honorarium to the native speakers from the School Maintenance Fund. The upper age limit to become a native speaker is 50.

Preserving culture

A large number of Koya tribal families will be displaced from their ancestral villages to make way for the Polavaram irrigation project. Once the tribes are rehabilitated in other places, it is feared that the Koya language will face the risk of falling into the oblivion, and the initiative has taken shape to allay such fears.

Yadaiah Gangadevi, who has been working on the Koya language and literature, says, “The native speakers initiative is a timely decision. It helps children to develop a cultural bond with their mother tongue, if it is taught in their schools before they are displaced from their ancestral villages. It needs to be implemented in the entire Chintoor agency. Once introduced to their native language, the children will also be curious to read their literature.”