Dumka, September 10, 2026: Members of the Santal community have expressed their gratitude to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das for raising the demand to publish NCERT textbooks and other educational materials in the Santali language using the Ol Chiki script.
A meeting of representatives from various social organisations, Adivasi students and language enthusiasts was held at the Disom Manjhi Than premises in Dumka on Thursday. Participants welcomed the initiative taken by Das and described it as an important step towards strengthening Santali-medium education.
The meeting was informed that Raghubar Das had written to Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi, urging the Centre to ensure that NCERT textbooks and other related educational materials in Santali are published in Ol Chiki.
Participants thanked the former Chief Minister for taking up the issue at the national level and extended their congratulations and Johar to him for supporting the educational and linguistic aspirations of the Santal community.
Students attending the meeting highlighted that Santali is one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India and that Ol Chiki, created by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, is widely used for writing the language and is encoded in Unicode.
They said that making NCERT textbooks available in Ol Chiki would provide Santali-speaking students with greater access to quality educational materials in their mother tongue. Such an initiative, they said, would particularly benefit students in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and other parts of the country.
The participants also said that wider use of Ol Chiki in educational materials would contribute to the preservation and promotion of the Santali language and carry forward Pandit Raghunath Murmu’s vision of education through the mother tongue.
Among those present at the meeting were Subhash Kisku, Sunil Hembram, Sonelal Soren, Arjun Murmu, Joseph Tudu, Paku Hembram, Selina Hansda, Sundari Tudu, Nisha Soren, Simon Marandi, Saheberam Kisku, Arjun Tudu and Bikas Tudu, along with several other social activists and students.
