Becoming estranged from cultural roots

Indigenous children and students living in the capital have little access to their own culture and many of them tend to communicate in Bangla even at home to learn the language better for fully fitting into the mainstream society.

They also don't get enough scope to practice their mother tongue properly as their schools run all their academic activities either in Bangla or English.

With the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples being observed across the globe today, Adivasi parents and leaders have called for taking proper steps to encourage the children to learn their own culture, instead of blindly running after others.

“Our kids face many cultural challenges at schools. They try to get used to the new language and the new culture quickly as they are taught that it would help them overcome the cultural challenge,” Bipasha Chakma, who has been living in the city for over a decade, told The Daily Star.

Ullas Ignatius Sku, an MBA student at Dhaka University, said he participates in Wangala, the biggest festival of the Garo community, in the capital every year. “But such initiatives are not enough,” he said.

Sku, who was raised in the city, said he can't speak his native language -- Mandi -- fluently. “I understand it clearly but find difficulties in speaking it properly,” he said, adding that his parents also talk to him in Bangla as he understands the language better.

Sku's father Jerome Chiran said, ”We speak in Mandi. But we use Bangla a little more as we are used to it. It also helps our child to communicate with our neighbours and others in a better way.”

Jerome, however, regretted that his son was unaware of most of the culture of their community.

Many other indigenous men and women came up with similar experiences. Some of them said they prefer music and books of other languages to their own.

Sejuti Chakma, a student of management at Dhaka University, said, “I read Bangla or English novels as they are always available.”

Sejuti, a fluent speaker of her native language, said, “When I was in my hometown Rangamati, I used to frequently attend different festivals of our Chakma community. But such activities are rare here.”

Talking to this correspondent, several Adivasi leaders said most of their community members in Dhaka city live in Monipuripara, Rajabazar, Mohammadpur, Nadda and Mirpur areas.

They, however, feared that their children were moving away from their cultural roots as they were leaning towards other cultures.

Each community arranges its own cultural programmes in a brief manner.  But they need a city-based central institution to run cultural programmes throughout the year, they said.

Horendronath Singh, member of music band Madal and also the president of Adivasi Jubo Parishad, called Adivasi cultural activities in the city inadequate.

Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, also suggested setting up a national cultural institution, which would be run exclusively by the members of different indigenous communities.