PENAMPANG: Sabah ethnic language studies in universities should be supported through the provision of the Sabah State Government Scholarship (BKNS) to students who choose the field.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said the support should be introduced as an incentive for students to pursue the studies and subsequently serve as teachers of the subjects in schools.
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He said the Kadazandusun language is currently part of the national education curriculum and is taught in primary and secondary schools in Sabah, while efforts to introduce four additional ethnic languages, namely Kadazan Tangaa, Murut Timogun, Lotud and Tatana, are being refined.
Ewon said he would submit to the Chief Minister and the State Cabinet the need to support the teaching of ethnic languages through BKNS awards to students furthering their studies at universities such as Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (Upsi) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), which offer the programmes.
He said the initiative could encourage more students to choose the field and help ensure the sustainability of Sabah’s ethnic mother tongues through cooperation among various parties.
He said this after officiating at the International Mother Language Day celebration organised by the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF) at Huguan Siou Hall, Kampung Tuavon, here, on Friday.
At the event, he also launched the Kadazan-Malay-English Webonary, which compiles 36,673 Kadazan entries and 29,387 Malay entries.
Ewon, who is also the Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister, approved RM100,000 from his allocation as Penampang MP and from KKIP CSR funds to support the KLF’s efforts, and agreed to channel RM50,000 to the Sabah Ethnic Language Association to develop more educational materials for the four proposed languages, while the celebration also featured the Tan Sri Bernard Dompok Literary Award for winners of the Kadazandusun novel competition organised by the foundation.
