RAIPUR: In a Maoist hotbed of tribal South Bastar in Chhattisgarh, 68-year-old Sikandar Khan aka Dada Jokal teaches tribal children in their own mother tongue and wrote text books in tribal dialects to bridge their world into the mainstream education.
Dada Jokal is at ease with local tribal dialects Halbi, Gondi and Dorli in which he has authored many books, which have been included in the school curriculum in the tribal areas. Some of his books are in Telugu as the region has many Telugu speaking populations in the villages close to the inter-state border with Telangana.
Out of nearly 15 books Dada Jokal has authored so far, some books, published by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), are being followed in the government primary schools of Chhattisgarh to educate students of Class I and II about these tribal languages. Four books, that are part of the curriculum in primary education, are ‘Hindi-Gondi’ (Dantewada Khetra) for class I and II and Hindi Halbi for class I and II.
“I am living the dream of my grandfather late Chaman Khan who had a lot of love and affection for local dialects spoken in the tribal belts of Bastar. My grandfather, who was a litterateur and he used to write in Hindi and Urdu even though his great works could not able to draw that much attention. He shifted me to Jagargunda, a remote village 70 km away from Konta block headquarters in Sukma district, and arranged a ‘kirana’ shop for my father so that I can pursue my primary education. He could have arranged admission for me in a better school in Konta block headquarters, but he wanted me to get educated with children speaking Gondi, Halbi and Dorli in Jagargunda school”, Dada Jokal told TOI.
“As I grew up I started realizing his motive behind putting me in a remote school, to work for preservation of the local dialects and help tribal people speak their local dialects with confidence instead of shying away to do so”, he added. Now, he lives in Dantewada in South Bastar.
His work for the promotion and preservation of tribal dialects brought for him many awards. The state government showed faith in him by giving him contractual appointment as assistant project coordinator, Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission, after his retirement, which he has been doing for last eight years and he is working with the same enthusiasm and energy as he did during his service period. He is educating the tribal children on local languages and giving moral education to high schools and higher secondary school students.
“During my primary education I had inclination towards art and culture. I used to sing a song I had heard from my grandmother who used to sing it when I go to bed for sleep and later, the same song – Bibi mendki ri, tu to pani ki rani, Agla nache bagla nache, nache botal khana, Mem sahab ki topi nache, pil-fili sahab ka gaana- became turning point in my career,”, Dada Jokal said.
During a school programme, Salim Sajid, who was posted as forest ranger who used to write for the All India Radio (AIR) programmes, heard him presenting this song. He was influenced so much that he asked Dada Jokal, who was then around 11 years, to write the song in Gondi for him which he did immediately. Sajid then took him to Bhopal for a radio programme in 1964. “Since then, I have never looked back. I shifted to Bhopalpatnam for middle and higher education and later to Jagdalpur for my college education, but my love for these tribal languages did not diminish. The name ‘Dada Jokal’, which means my friend/brother, was given by Salim Sajid, whom I consider as my ‘Ustad’,” he said.
Dada Jokal’s entry into the education department was in 2001, when he started working for the literacy mission when the southern part of the state was closed due to Maoist insurgency. He worked voluntarily for the literacy mission in the Konta area, writing their slogans, songs and dramas. Around 2002-03, he applied for a job in the department of adult education and became their coordinator in the Bhopalpatnam area. Later on, he was promoted as project director. “I had written several songs in local languages of tribals during my younger age as people during that time used to get more influence listening any issues in the form of a song,” said.
Appreciating the work of Dada Jokal, Tribal Research and Training Institute director Shammi Abidi told TOI that Jokal had made a great contribution towards preserving the local dialects and instilling in confidence in tribal people and making them feel proud in speaking their dialects.
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