“It is a matter of pride that at HBS, we get to hear a number of vernacular languages being spoken. It is in our mother tongues that our rich heritage and traditional knowledge systems are embedded. So, preserving our mother tongue is preserving our ancestral knowledge resources,” said Prof. S.S. Prasada Rao, Dean & Director, Hyderabad Business School (HBS), a constituent of GITAM University. He was addressing the students, faculty and staff on the occasion of International Mother Languages Day, celebrated at HBS.
Prof. Sriram recounted how addressing our parents in our mother tongue is much sweeter and endearing. Mother tongue preserves our bond with our family and tradition, he observed.
The faculty members who deviated from the norm and addressed the gathering in their mother tongue, dwelt on the need for translating technical literature into vernaculars and for overcoming a colonial mentality towards English. They cited examples of Japan, China and Russia, where even higher education is imparted in the native language and English is taught just enough to communicate with the rest of the world. Such a policy is seen as key for high innovation and creativity among the intelligentsia of these nations.
The students of MBA at HBS conducted the event by inviting the staff and students to make presentations in their mother tongues. Students spoke in Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Hindi and Telugu about their respective mother languages. They invited the security guard Lakhi Sojate, who spoke in his mother tongue –Assamese, and it was translated into Hindi for the benefit of the audience. He spoke on how he came to settle in Hyderabad due to the city’s attractive employment opportunities. (NSS)
