Call to encourage children to speak Bangla correctly
Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique at a seminar yesterday said children should be encouraged to speak their mother tongue Bangla correctly as well as clearly from the very beginning of their academic life.
He lamented the fact that the existing education system of the country puts more emphasis on correct English communication and teaching the youngsters to speak English better.
“However, Bangla, our sweet mother tongue, does not receive as much emphasis or attention,” Prof Arefin said, adding that this practice needs to be changed.
The DU VC said this at the opening ceremony of a training workshop on 'Correct pronunciation and verbalisation' for Dhaka Sub-Editors Council (DSEC) members at the National Press Club in the city.
At the seminar organised by Pathshala in association with DSEC and Prime Bank Limited, noted poets, cultural activists, teachers, language researchers and journalists stressed the need to promote speaking of correct and fluid Bangla in the everyday life.
They said the countrymen should be more conscious in their ways of speaking, ensuring that they are speaking in their mother tongue correctly, not mixing it up with English or any other foreign languages.
Presenting a keynote paper, Prof Niranjan Adhikari underlined the importance of correct pronunciation and articulation in journalism, especially for the electronic media.
For journalists, lack of knowledge in correct verbalisation may become a major obstacle to articulating news items to the general public, he said.
Prof Niranjan said, “The fact that our country has a diverse array of native dialects which make it even more difficult to maintain one standardised and accepted way of verbalisation and pronunciation.”
Other speakers also stressed the need to create public awareness so that everyone would put some effort to speak Bangla as correctly as possible.
Executive Editor of the daily Jai Jai Din Mahmud Al Faisal, National Institute for Mass Communication (NIMCO) Deputy Director Bhashyar Bandyopadhyay, noted poet and film producer Dildar Hossain, Dhaka Reporters' Unity General Secretary Pathik Saha, DSEC President Mir Mustafiz Ahmed and Pathshala Convener Kazi Fazle Murad Shah spoke at the event.
The two-and-a-half-month training workshop is scheduled to begin next month.
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