Singapore:

An Indian-origin minister in Singapore has emphasised the significance of Tamil language as a mom tongue, underscoring the necessity to introduce youngsters to one of many 4 official languages within the affluent city-state.

The Singapore schooling system encourages mom tongue as a second language in faculties which embody Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and different major Indian languages in addition to Tamil, Malay and Chinese language (Mandarin).

“We have to guarantee our youngsters have alternatives to be continually uncovered to Tamil language,” stated Indranee Rajah, minister within the Prime Minister’s Workplace.

Tamil language acts as a “passport” that hyperlinks all Tamil individuals, she stated not too long ago.

Language needs to be learnt as a residing lesson, Rajah stated, including that it isn’t one thing that “you possibly can simply examine, you want to put it to make use of”.

“Be it by way of tv, social media or print, so long as they’re listening to, listening and utilizing the language from younger, we will hold it alive,” Rajah was quoted as saying by Friday weekly Tabla! To uphold the wealthy legacy of the Tamil language in Singapore, the Tamil Language Council (TLC) has been organising the Tamil Language Pageant (TLF) for the previous 18 years. Rajah launched this 12 months’s TLF final Saturday.

The minister had earlier additionally emphasised the significance for each era to remain linked to their mom tongue, and in flip, their heritage and cultural id.

Centred on the theme of “Capabilities”, the TLC this 12 months is being held from March 30 to April 28, that includes 47 programmes.

“This 12 months’s theme was chosen to encourage the creation of revolutionary programmes whereas harnessing our collective strengths,” TLC chairperson S Manogaran stated.

Greater than 65 per cent of the programmes have been organised by the youths, which has boosted Tamil language engagement amongst younger individuals by way of artwork, tradition and literature initiatives.

“A lot of our youths as we speak are discovering a brand new objective in studying and utilizing Tamil; lots of the programmes are focused at them,” Manogaran was quoted as saying by Tabla!

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