Amritsar, Feb 5: The North Regional Language Centre (NRLC), Patiala, a part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, will write to the Human Resource and Development Ministry for propagating Punjabi among the Sikligarh and Wanjara Sikh communities in Maharashtra.
Dr Dharminder Singh of the NRLC along with 12 teachers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan under the Language Environmental Tour across Punjab, was today in the city.
He said the proposal was at a nascent stage and would be submitted to the ministry. He said once the permission was granted, the center would identify these groups and would train teachers from these regions to teach Punjabi.
He said the proposal for doubling the monthly honorarium of Rs 250 for teachers after being trained from the NRLC was with the ministry and was expected to be notified soon.
The NRLC, which also teaches languages, namely Dogri, Kashmiri and Urdu, runs 10-month long Punjabi-teaching program, which constitutes basic, intermediate and advance courses, to interested teachers from other states. It also runs a Punjabi online program.
During its decade and a half long existence, the NRLC educated about 800 teachers with skills in writing and speaking Punjabi besides understanding religions and culture of Punjab.
The NRLC also operates post-training programs like the national integration camps, refresher courses, personal-contact programs and evaluation and consultancy program. Under these programs, the Center keeps in touch with these teachers, updates their skills and monitors their holding of classes in their respective schools.
He said all parts of applied linguistic, including phonetic, lexicography and translation were used in imparting Punjabi.
He said utilisation of Punjabi, the only tonal language in India, was traced as far back as the ninth century in the Natha and Sidha religious literature. He said Punjabi had its origin in Prakrit language and gained immensely from a synthesis with various other languages. He said it was now taking international strides as the eigth language of Thailand and second in Canada.
“In the contemporary context, Punjabi language must be modernized with scientific and technological vocabulary,” he observed.
They visited the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and the residence of the legendary Punjabi writer, Bhai Veer Singh, which is at present being maintained in the shape of a museum.
The teachers will visit Bathinda, Ropar and Jalandhar in order to get the feel of various textures of Punjabi.