If it is her sheer interest in learning a new language that brought Rajani to the classroom, Taha, a retired teacher and an avid traveller, wants to improve his vocabulary in Tamil. And they both attend Kollam district panchayat’s regional language study centre with its motley crowd of students who include pensioners, young professionals, college-goers and homemakers.
The centre offering free language lessons, perhaps the first of its kind initiative started by a local body in the State, currently conducts Tamil and Hindi classes. “I have worked in different parts of India and I know a handful of regional languages though I am not proficient in any of them. I find it an opportunity to hone my language skills,” says Raju, retired from the Civil Supplies Department.
Culture
The students are taught not just alphabets as their teachers also introduce them to the regional culture through custom, proverbs and folk tales. Sivaprakasam, a teacher originally from Salem and settled in Kollam, handles Tamil classes while Haseena, a guest instructor at a nearby school, teaches Hindi.
“All the students are very diligent and they really want to get some command over the language. In Kerala there is a strong Tamil population and there are many traders who keep commuting between the States. Tamil influence is seen in many parts and even Chinnakkada, name of the city centre of Kollam, is actually derived from Tamil,” says Mr. Sivaprakasam.
Ms. Haseena says many of her students attend the classes for the right choice of words and fluency, skills they lack despite learning the language for several years it at school. “Some students attend the classes to communicate with the migrant labourers they have employed without the help of an interpreter.”
The students who skip a class come a little early for the next session so that they can catch up with others and they are also encouraged to get in touch with the teachers if they have any doubts.
Good response
“The idea is to make the students capable of reading, writing and communicating. Hindi was selected as our national language and Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world. We have fixed the maximum strength as 30 so that all of them get individual attention. The feedback so far has been good and we are planning to start a Sanskrit batch this year,” says K. Prasad, district panchayat secretary and the implementing officer for the project.
