World over, around half of the seven thousand spoken languages are feared to
die by the end of the present century. In India alone, 197 languages are
classified as vulnerable or endangered. Cognisant of the threat of extinction
looming large on many leading languages, International Mother Language Day
(IMLD) is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21 to promote
awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, and promote multilingualism.
Commemorating this day, StoryWeaver is
working towards nurturing the children’s book publishing ecosystem in minority
languages that have limited or no children’s literature. In 2017, StoryWeaver
celebrated IMLD through the Freedom to Read campaign by adding stories in 13
new languages to the platform, including stories in endangered languages like
Kurdish and languages spoken in increasingly smaller circles, like Alemmanisch
and Jerriais.
Extending the spirit of the campaign to
2018, StoryWeaver is facilitating the creation of joyful, supplementary reading
material in three minority Indian languages on its StoryWeaver platform. The
StoryWeaver platform currently hosts over 7,000 stories in 105 Indian and
global languages. Each of these initiatives will marry digital and print
mediums together to create a repository of early reading literacy material in
mother tongue languages. While the translations of stories to the three
languages will happen on StoryWeaver, the dissemination of the books will be
through print and digital modes.
StoryWeaver, an initiative of Pratham
Books, a not-for-profit publisher, announced the creation of hyperlocal
libraries for children to promote and preserve children’s literature in
Konkani, Bhoti and Haryanvi, in observance of International Mother Language
Day.
In Goa, StoryWeaver has partnered with
Konkani Bhasha Mandal, an organisation that constantly works for the Konkani
language, to translate over 100 books to Konkani on StoryWeaver. Through the
collaboration, 25,000 copies of 50 books in Konkani will be printed and
distributed for free among more than 250 schools in Goa, impacting over 25,000
children.
Speaking of the initiative, Suzanne Singh, Chairperson, Pratham
Books, said, “When a language dies, with it, a wealth of knowledge is lost
forever. It is a death of a culture. Having rigorous discourse on this issue
and implementing mindful efforts to preserve endangered languages and its
cultural capital is a requisite of every publisher and language warrior.
Through Pratham Books’ open source platform, StoryWeaver, weaving stories of
communities in their own languages, and increasing access to quality reading
resources for children has been made possible like none other. We are also
grateful to collaborate with our passionate partners, whose primary mission,
just like ours, is to nurture multilingual languages and take it to every child
in the country.”
Chetan Acharya, President, Konkani Bhasha Mandal, said, “It is
our pleasure to join hands with Pratham Books, which is working immensely in
the field of children’s literature. After knowing that there exists a website
with a plethora of stories that can be used by teachers and parents for their
children, we started translating them to Konkani. Konkani Bhasha Mandal is
always in the process of producing delightful reading material in Konkani. We
conducted many workshops especially for college-going students on how they can
translate a story from StoryWeaver. We are extremely delighted and happy that
50 storybooks created by Pratham Books and Konkani Bhasha Mandal are being
released now. We will certainly have a long and fruitful partnership. For any
information about the availability of these books, an email can be dropped to
konkanibhashamandal.goa@gmail.com.”
This
year, IMLD was observed through an on-ground event in Goa that celebrated the
joy of reading through the launch of these Konkani language children’s books.
Held at Ravindra Bhavan, Goa recently, the event was inaugurated by Ramakrishna
Samant, Chairman of Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
(GBSHSE) in the presence of teachers and educators of over 200 schools in Goa.
The event also saw a panel discussion on the topic, the importance of reading
in the mother tongue, that elucidated the merit of having access to delightful
reading material in mother tongue languages.
