Mother Tongue Awareness Campaign launched

By Our Correspondent,Butwal, Aug. 18: Magar Women’s Association Rupandehi has launched a ‘Mother Tongue Awareness Campaign’ to preserve, promote, and pass down the mother tongue to future generations in Butwal.

As part of the campaign, the association organised a poetry recitation programme in Butwal. Poems were recited in five different indigenous mother tongues, including Magar, Newari, Tharu, Gurung, and Tamang.

Speaking at the event, Dal Bahadur Birkatta Magar, Central Vice Chairperson of the Nepal Magar Association, said that literature plays a vital role in preserving the languages, cultures, and identities of indigenous nationalities.

He added that families and communities must unite to transfer identity and culture to the next generation, while also urging the state to support preservation efforts.

Nirmala Thapa Magar, President of the Nepal Magar Women’s Association, Rupandehi, said that the association has been running campaigns for the development of the endangered Magar language, the preservation of Magar culture, and the preparation of textbooks in the Magar language. 

She added that poems were recited in five different languages to raise awareness for the protection of not only the Magar language but also other languages at risk of extinction, with the belief that such efforts will help prevent language loss.

Similarly, speakers at the programme including Janak Thapa, Senior Vice President of Nepal Magar Association Lumbini Province, Tek Bahadur Reshmi, Acting President of the Association Rupandehi, Shankar Gaha, Advisor of the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities Rupandehi; and Bhim Gurung, a Gurung linguist and activist said that the protection of language and culture is the first condition for securing indigenous rights. 

They highlighted the need for the government to include the preservation of indigenous languages, cultures, and identities in school-level textbooks.

At the event, Laxmi Shrestha, Dilmaya Thing Lama, and Bambahadur Tharu, among others, recited poems in their respective mother tongues.