ITDA uses Koya language audio CDs to develop children’s cognitive skills

It is a novel initiative to foster affinity towards mother tongue among tribal children. The purpose? To enable them explore their inborn instinct to learn languages. The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Bhadrachalam, has brought out an audio CD containing rhymes in Koya language to promote cognitive language skills in Adivasi children at the primary school level.

Native rhymes

Titled Koya Vachakam: Girijana Bala Geyalu comprising nine rhymes in Koya language, the CD was released at a State-level conference in the presence of higher officials of the Tribal Welfare Department in Hyderabad a few days ago.

The well-conceived idea was implemented by the Project Monitoring and Resource Cell (PMRC) under the aegis of ITDA Project Officer Pamela Satpathy.

The rhymes were written, composed and sung by a team of teachers from various tribal welfare schools and artists from Adivasi Koya community.

“Impressed by the overwhelming response to the CD, the authorities concerned have decided to circulate them, one each to State-run primary schools in the Agency areas of the State soon,” sources said.

“The audio CD has been brought out under the direct supervision of the ITDA Project Officer to develop cognitive language skills and promote self-expression in tribal children in a natural and fun-filled way,” said T. Ramanaiah, Academic and Community Mobilising Officer, PMRC, ITDA, Bhadrachalam.

The initiative would help tribal children develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at the primary school level and lay a strong foundation for their linguistic development.

It would also enable tribal children gain grasp over their native language and attain multiple-language proficiency when they reach secondary and higher education level, he opined.

Above all, the initiative would go a long way in promoting and preserving the Koya language.