Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

Selection of Project Site and Situational AnalysisASHRAI decided to address the language needs of the Oraon community primarily because there hadbeen no earlier initiative to preserve and promote the Oraon’s languages despite the Oraon being thesecond largest indigenous group in Bangladesh’s plains region. Following this decision, an ASHRAIresearch team (under the leadership of Professor A.Jalil, Phd of Rajshahi University) undertook anextensive survey of the languages spoken by the Oraon, as well as the location of where each languagewas spoken.The survey was done through the tribal students who were studying or had studied at Rajshahi University.The survey team was oriented on survey techniques and interviewing for collecting information andholding focus group discussions prior to their field work. Primary information about the concentrationsof the tribal population, known as “Adivasi” in Bangla, and leaders of the communities were collectedbeforehand from different sources, such as organizations working with indigenous communities, tribalprofessionals working with different governmental (GO) and non-government (NGO) services and Adivasistaff of ASHRAI. Surveyors were supervised by the Chief Researcher and Sr. Programme Organizer.The survey revealed the districts, as identified above, in which the Oraon are found. It was also foundthat the Oraon communities speak two different languages. One is Sadri and the other is Kurukh. Bothare oral and having no alphabet of their own, but are used at home and within the scope of local dayto-daycommunity activity. Further, it was observed that the overwhelming majority of Oraon speakSadri, and only a section of the community that lives in Rangpur and parts of Dinajpur districts speakKurukh. As a language, Sadri is spoken widely in different districts among the Oraon people, and manyof the words are similar to Bangla. For instance, the word “mango” in English is called “aam” in Bangla and”amba” in Sadri. Also, Sadri uses some adopted Bangla words due to the Oraon people’s long associationwith the Bangla-speaking communities. Indeed, many Oraon can either speak or understand Banglawell. Unlike Sadri, Kurukh is still in its original form and not easily understandable by the neighboringpeople; nor do Kurukh speakers understand Bangla easily.The survey also identified:i) Key sources of information in the Oraon communitiesii) Oraon community leadersiii) Oraon students reading in higher classes of the secondary level, colleges and universitiesiv) Oraon people working with GOs and NGOsv) Oraon teachersvi) Oraon singers and storytellersvii) village doctors working in Oraon communitiesThe research team leader, Professor A. Jilal, was a professor of Bangla who has published a book aboutthe culture and life of the Oraon. Other members of the team included community persons and eminenteducationists from various institutions in the country.The team emphasized community mobilization and the participative approach for successfulimplementation of the project activities. For this reason, several community meetings were organizedin different villages to explain the purpose of the project. During these meetings, community membersassured the team that they would give their full participation and cooperation for developing literacyprogrammes in their Sadri language.[ 33 ]