Deliver verdicts in Bangla

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday requested judges to deliver verdicts of lawsuits in Bangla.

“Because of poor knowledge in English, most of the litigants need to depend on their lawyers to understand the verdict. The litigants have no scope to know about the essence of the judgement and in many cases, they are harassed for this reason,” she said.

 “So, it's crucial to publish the court judgement in Bangla,” she said, adding that the judges may write verdict in English, but there should have a provision of publishing it in Bangla.

The premier was inaugurating a four-day programme of International Mother Language Institute at Segunbagicha in Dhaka, marking Amar Ekushey and International Mother Language Day.

“Language of the judgement should also be simple avoiding any Roman style to make people understand it easily. It's better to deliver the judgement in Bangla and translate it into English,” she said.

Describing Bangla as one of the scientific languages in the world, the premier said, “But, we are not so careful to learn Bangla as we are serious to learn English. That's why Bangla appears to be difficult to many people.”

The prime minister said pundits have evolved standard colloquial Bangla where pronunciation, spelling and uses of style are fixed and unchanged. “But, we… are not learning these rules with care.”

Hasina said although difference of opinion regarding spelling and pronunciation among the pundits sometimes creates ambiguity, but that issue is not so substantial.

“Everybody should think how the foundation of language learning of the children gets strong,” she said.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Deputy Minister for Education Barrister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, Resident Representative of UNDP in Bangladesh Mia Seppo and Education Secretary Sohrab Hossain spoke, among others, on the occasion.

Noted Indian thinker and chair of People's Linguistic Survey Ganesh N Devy presented the keynote speech, while Director General of the International Mother Language Institute Prof Dr Jinnat Imtiaz Ali gave the welcome address.

Urging all to give due honour to other languages, the prime minister said none should dislike languages of others, rather in the era of globalisation everybody should learn another language for communication.

Mentioning that Bangladesh is a land of various ethnic groups, Hasina said for younger learners of different ethnic groups, the government has taken steps for publishing textbooks in their mother languages and distributing those books free of cost among students at the beginning of the academic year.

Highlighting the importance of Ekushey, the prime minister said the Ekushey is not for Bangalees only. “The messages of Ekushey transcended boundaries and International Mother Language Day is being observed in more than 190 countries,” she said.

Hasina said, “February 21 is the day of establishing the right to speak in our mother tongue. It's the symbol of resistance against colonial rule, exploitation and subjugation.”