LONGDING, May 28: Living upto the sobriquet “Friends of the Hills People”, the Longding Battalion of Assam Rifles assisted the Wancho Literary Mission in organizing a month-long workshop on pedagogic development of Wancho language that concluded in Kamhua Noknu village of Longding district on Saturday.
The pedagogic workshop was an endeavour to encourage the Wanchos to preserve and promote their native language. Banwang Losu, a resident of Kamhua Noknu and a teacher by profession, embarked upon the unique mission of developing Wancho script, way back in 2001. In 2013, he formed Wancho Literary Mission, an NGO committed to promote the Wancho language.
The workshop involved preparing contents of Wancho language school syllabus for classes I to V by existing trained Wancho language teachers. In a notable achievement, 100 youth including 57 boys and 43 girls from remote villages of the district were introduced to the Wancho script, who would be subsequently employed as Wancho language teachers. The workshop involved research work with students collecting data on folk stories, tales, folk songs and folklore.
The workshop concluded with a grand closing ceremony in Longding town, which was attended by the elected representatives, including RWD and Science & Technology Minister Honchun Nagandam, MLA of Pongchau-Wakka constituency, Advisor to Agriculture Minister, Gabriel D Wangsu (MLA, Kanubari), and heads of civil society organizations.
On the occasion, the Minister felicitated the founder of Wancho Literary Mission, and teachers involved in pedagogy and meritorious students identified during the workshop. He appreciated the noble initiative of Assam Rifles and Wancho Literary Mission for promoting and preserving the native language of Wanchos.
