The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Academy chiefs hoping for extension

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Academy chiefs hoping for extension

M. Raghuram

BANGALORE: The terms of all academies in the State will come to an end on March 21, 2008. But with no popular government to administer the academies, their heads hope that the tenure of the committees will be extended till a popular government is elected.

Speaking to The Hindu, president of the Karnataka State Konkani Sahitya Academy Eric Ozario said, “It is a reasonable demand that the work of academies should continue with the committee in power rather than by an administrator.”

He said that by the efforts of the Konkani academy, Konkani as a third language was introduced in the State syllabus from 6th standard. In Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, 1,856 children had opted for Konkani as the third language in 92 schools.

In Uttara Kannada, only one school had required facilities for teaching Konkani for the students of 6th standard, Mr. Ozario added. Textbooks were written in both Devanagari and Kannada scripts and students were given the option to use any of the scripts, he added.

Mr. Ozario said apart from the major communities of Catholics and Gowd Saraswath Brahmins, a large number of lesser known communities also speak Konkani.

The communities included Siddis and Kudbis (tribal), Kharvis, (fishermen), Navahites (Muslims), and there are people who have done extraordinary work in culture and folklore if not in literature. He suggested that these communities should also be considered while appointing chairperson for the Konkani academy.

President of the Karnataka State Tulu Sahitya Academy M.K. Seetharam Kulal said that it would be a good decision if the existing committees were allowed to continue till the next government was in place. “After all, the academies were put in place by the popular governments,” he added.

Tulu textbooks

He said the Tulu Academy had prepared textbooks for introducing Tulu as the third language in the State but the government decision was pending on this issue. Another unfinished work of the existing committee was constructing the academy’s building in Mangalore on a site allotted by the government. The building was to come up at a cost of Rs. 2.3 crore, he added.

President of the Kendra Beary Parishat M.B. Abdul Rehman was unhappy about the delay in constituting the committee for the Karnataka State Beary Sahitya Academy. He said that the parishat had in the last two years takeng up activities that would have been ideally organised by the State Sahitya Academy.

“It was better for the government to have the Karnataka State Beary Academy at the earliest,” he said.

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