Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Aug 27: For a long time now, organisations have been directing their efforts by conducting various campaigns for the recognition of Tulu language. It includes politicians, celebrities, and organisations who have extended their support for the language via their tweets where they have urged for the inclusion of Tulu language in the eighth schedule.
'Jai Tulunad', an organisation which is at the forefront in promoting Tulu language through its unique programme has also spearheaded campaigns concerning the same.
Going one step ahead in their mission, 'Jai Tulunad' is teaching Tulu online free of cost to people. Since three months amid lockdown, 'Jai Tulunad' has been actively training people who are keen on learning the language.
Speaking to Daijiworld, president of Jai Tulunad, Sudharshan said, "Since three years we have been teaching Tulu script in schools for free. However, due to the pandemic, classes are now being conducted online. This gave us the idea to teach Tulu script online. Several people expressed interest in learning the language. However, some could not be part of our online classes. We then considered taking up the task of teaching people through WhatsApp group.
"Initially, we created three WhatsApp groups, where we teach for an hour. Each WhatsApp group has two to three teachers. We received good response and began promoting our online classes on social media. People from other cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai have also expressed interest in learning the script. Currently, there are over 53 WhatsApp groups of which 34 groups are for male students and 18 for female students. Female teachers are assigned to teach female students and male teachers for male students. There are around 50 teachers and close to 1,500 students who are learning Tulu script. The age group of students range from 5 to 70 years.
"Teaching people with the help of a WhatsApp group is easy. The teachers send a voice note and video with graphics relating to Tulu script. Students learn to write and upload whatever they have learnt on that day on the WhatsApp group. In the event of any errors found, teachers personally message the students.
"There are separate WhatsApp groups for Mumbai Tuluvas and Kasargod Tuluvas. The Tuluvas who are settled in Mumbai are unaware of Kannada alphabets and therefore taught with the help of Hindi alphabets. On the other hand, Kasargod Tuluvas learn with the use of Malayalam alphabets.
"We have also started a campaign to teach Tulu language. After we began teaching Tulu script, people from different states and districts expressed interest in learning the language. So, we commenced online classes to teach the language as well. Over 50 persons are currently part of these classes. A girl from Nagaland who is pursuing her studies at Manipal has shown interest in learning Tulu language.
"We recently have conducted a Twitter campaign which centres on acquiring education in Tulu. We also received support from several actors for the same. Our appeal to the government is that, along with our request, also provide us with funds so that the teachers can be paid," he said.