Overseas Telugus strive to make their kids proficient in mother tongue

Telugus in their motherland might be averse to making their children pursue their education in their mother tongue but the Telugus living on foreign shores are very much keen that their children do not lose touch with their first language. 

HYDERABAD: Telugus in their motherland might be averse to making their children pursue their education in their mother tongue but the Telugus living on foreign shores are very much keen that their children do not lose touch with their first language. Some of the organisations formed by the Non-Resident Telugus (NRTs) in other countries, particularly the USA, are encouraging young children to learn their mother tongue—Telugu. They are even running classes for children of people of Telugu origin. 

At present, over 8,000 children, whose parents and grandparents hail from the Telugu land and have settled in 35 states in the USA, are learning the language  because of the efforts of various associations formed by the NRTs.   These associations even succeeded in getting foreign language status for Telugu at some county schools in North Carolina, California and some other states in the USA.“One county in California, which has around 20 schools, introduced Telugu as an optional language subject in September 2017,” Mahesh Bigala, coordinator of the NRI contingent for the World Telugu Conference, told Express here on Monday.

According to him, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekar Rao, who had met the NRTs here on Sunday night, said similar efforts can be made in other places too. “While the Telugu diaspora there can push for policy changes, the department of language and culture of Telangana government and the Telangana Sahitya Akademi can help with the content and syllabus,” said Mahesh.

In line with the objective of the World Telugu Conference to preserve and protect Telugu language, the NRT contingents from 42 countries will be participating in a special session to be held here on Tuesday. Delegates who came from Fiji Islands, Malawi, France, Botswana and others will participate in discussions on how to develop the Telugu language and spread its greatness among the Indian diaspora. 
“As certain activities about development of the language are already taking place in some countries, we will further discuss the steps that are needed to promote our language in the virtual world also,” another Non-Resident Telugu said.

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