SHILLONG:The BJP in Meghalaya has demanded that learning either Khasi or Garo be made compulsory for all students up to class 5 in the state.
At a meeting of the party on the National Education Policy, a decision was taken to press for this, BJP state president Ernest Mawrie said.
"The party demand that learning either Khasi or Garo be made compulsory for students of all schools," Mawrie said.
All schools in the state should be brought under the NEP, and it should be made mandatory to learn at least one local language," he said.
Mawrie said the party will approach Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Education Minister Lakmen Rymbui over the issue.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Vincent H Pala has written to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, seeking inclusion of Khasi and Garo in CBSE's list of options for the second language.
I fervently request you to consider the inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the list of approved languages at the earliest so that the children of my state can receive the best of education, Pala said in the letter.
He said these languages are used not only by the indigenous residents of the state but also by large sections of people in other states in the Northeast.
A sizable population of Bangladesh also speaks in Khasi and Garo languages.
The population of Meghalaya is approximately 33,00,000 and 50 per cent of the population speak Khasi, 31 per cent speak Garo while the rest speak other languages, Pala stated.