Despite apprehensions, WTC was a hit with massive scholarly crowd

Hyderabad: The World Telugu Conference, meant to showcase the pride of Telugu in the earlier sidelined Telangana region, turned out to be a major hit.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced that Telugu would be made compulsory up to Grade XII from the next academic year. This did not appear to be received well from some quarters which felt that Telugu promotion should not be at the cost of English which had come to be a global language.

Thousands of language lovers, pundits and poets from across nations made it to the five-day event which highlighted that Telugu was actually born in this region which had made rich contributions producing several kinds of skills, including ‘Avadhanam’ (answers to question in poetic form) considered unique.

But the language, when compared with other prominent Dravidan ones like Tamil and Kannada, was way behind, especially as a medium of instruction and guaranteeing employment opportunities. Though a classical language, it got little government patronage over the last few decades. Instead, English was being encouraged as the medium of instruction in educational institutions, scholars said.

Experts highlighted this with the famous Sanskrit saying: “Niraasreya Na Sobhante, Panditha, Vanitha, Latha” (women, pundits and creepers will not shine without patronage).

Governments were bound by the constitution to take steps to  preserve, protect and promote native languages of the State though in reality this was not happening.

Telangana CM Chandrasekhar Rao in response to an observation by Vice-President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu decided to make Telugu a compulsory language up to Grade XII in all government and private educational institutions from the next academic year.

However, some pundits and scholars said this was not sufficient to promote Telugu and more steps were needed to push the language further. But a section of people outside felt that promotion of any language should not be at the cost of another, especially in the wake of certain sections blaming English for Telugu getting sidelined. 

Telugu, termed as the Italian of the East and the third oldest Dravidian language after Tamil and Kannada, was rich in history and patronage in the past till the advent of English medium schools which gave several job opportunities, said scholars at the conference. This resulted in slow dying of Telugu and the culture associated with it.

The pride of Telugu ‘Satakam’ (100 stanzas) which helped in acquiring vocabulary the much-needed morals could not be taught in other language more conveniently and coherently, it was pointed out. The ‘Telugu Mastaru’(teacher) used to be an inspiration for the child during early age, though this was now a thing of the past.

But for government schools, Telugu was not a medium of instruction in private sector ones. Sadly, even in government schools, Telugu was being given least priority, it was alleged. Telugu teacher recruitments were not being made and no incentive was given to Telugu medium students. Telugu was also not mandatory for government service.

After globalisation, English has gained prominence and regional languages, including Telugu, was bearing the brunt. However, several countries were promoting their languages, which was not the case in the country.

Scholars pointed to efforts in neighbouring Tamil Nadu where efforts were being taken to promote Tamil and reserving 20 per cent jobs to those with a degree in Tamil. Karnataka was also going all out to promote Kannada. Telugu States needed to emulate their neighbours and make Telugu the administrative language, they added.