If duly implemented, the Ethno-Linguistic Survey launched by the International Mother Language Institute could be the saviour for many of the endangered indigenous languages, especially practiced by the indigenous peoples in the country.
It would have also made it possible for the government, who had tried but failed several times in recent years, to publish textbooks in the languages exclusive to some of these communities.
However, with only four months to go before reaching the completion deadline in July this year, barely 20% work of the Tk3.89 crore one-year project has been completed.
Sources said despite the fact that there had been no shortage of funds, the IMLI officials had been utterly negligent about finishing the project in due time.
The institute has not even managed to start the field level survey work in eight months. According to the project documents, the survey is supposed to cover 25 different indigenous languages in around 30 districts.
An official from the Finance Division told the Dhaka Tribune that the ministry might decide to cut funding if IMLI failed to show any progress soon.
According to an IMLI official, only the paperwork had been finished in eight months. They have documented some 5,000 words from four languages – Chakma, Marma, Tripura and Achik.
Neither had the institute ever contacted the leaders and researchers from these communities, sources said.
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is very unfortunate that nobody has contacted us regarding the survey although it has been eight months. We have only heard from others that a survey of that sort was being implemented. Not only would we have appreciated any attempt to consult us, we would also have extended our full support to make the survey successful.”
He also regretted that his organisation had never been consulted in the nearly 15 years that the institute had been in operation.
When contacted, Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, state minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Nobody has ever contacted me in this regard. Even before becoming a state minister, I did not know anything about the survey. As far as I know, no other lawmaker from our communities has ever been contacted either.
“I believe they [IMLI] should have contacted us for taking such a survey forward,” the state minister said.
Jinnat Imtiaz Ali, director general of IMLI, said the field level survey which would take about five months to complete, could not be started because all the technical assistances from abroad could not be brought in.
“We need foreign linguists, specialised software and some electronic gadgets for the survey. Those have not arrived yet. But we have appointed an anthropologist,” he said.
“After conducting the survey, we will get a real picture of the current status of the languages of the various indigenous communities. We will also then be able to come up with full corpuses [a large collection of written or spo” Jinnat said.
