KATHMANDU, Nov 8: The Language Commission has expressed concern that the Nepali language has been neglected as the language of government work and that the Constitution itself has been violated. In the seventh annual report submitted by the Commission to President Ram Chandra Paudel, the government offices have been accused of neglecting the Nepali language.
Article 7 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal states that the Nepali language written in the Devanagari script shall be the official language of the government's work in Nepal. However, the Commission has pointed out that despite the requirement for government offices to use the Nepali language written in the Devanagari script, there has been a disregard for the Nepali language by government offices.
As an example, the Commission has cited the provision of installing embossed number plates in the English language to vehicles, despite the general public’s requests for vehicle number plates in the Devanagari script.
In order to ensure the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 31 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal, it has been suggested to make provisions in the federal law and the local level law so that primary education up to the 3rd grade is available in the mother tongue at community and private schools.
The Commission has suggested making the language of university and school reading materials, question papers, and certificates the medium of instruction. It also proposed regulating the language used for question papers and certificates issued by examination control offices to ensure compliance with the Constitution.
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Similarly, the commission suggests that various high-ranking and distinguished persons holding public positions should take the oath of office and secrecy in the Nepali language and mother tongue. The Language Commission has said that "persons holding public positions should be allowed to take the oath in their mother tongue in addition to the Nepali language.”
Campaign to transfer language from one generation to another
The Commission has emphasized the need to carry out a campaign to transfer the language from one generation to another. The government has been reminded that in the National Population Census 2021, languages spoken by less than a thousand people should be prioritized for transfer from one generation to another.
The language acquired by children from their mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and other members of the household is considered as the mother tongue. The Commission recognizes sign language as a mother tongue as well, as it often originates within the family.
In the report, for the vitality of the language, a language training campaign will be conducted in collaboration with the rural municipalities and municipalities to be facilitated by the federal and provincial governments and the Commission said that languages like Kusunda, Dura, Lungkhim, Tilung, Baram, which have the least number of speakers, are on the verge of extinction.
The Commission suggests identifying languages like Chheteli and conducting a nationwide campaign to transfer language from one generation to another in the context of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).
Similarly, it is suggested to carry out electronic linguistic archiving. It has been mentioned that the characteristics of Nepal's languages should be determined with the technical support of institutions including the Central Department of Linguistics in cooperation with local, provincial and federal governments.
The Commission has stated that it will expand automatic translation methods, incorporating word, sentence, and sound arrangement into electronic dictionary systems based on activities such as word collection, dictionary construction, grammar writing, text collection, language training, and collecting folk narratives, and language archiving. Furthermore, the suggestion has been made to preserve and promote classical languages such as Bhot, Pali and Sanskrit.
In the Constitution of Nepal, the mother tongue has been given a significant place. Article 6 of the Constitution states that 'all mother tongues spoken in Nepal are the national languages'.
The latest population census reports that 124 languages are spoken across the country, based on mother tongues.
