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Organisation
Tamil Language Council ( TLC )
Tamils Representative Council
Table 1 : List of programmes
How effective have the efforts of community leaders been in promoting Tamil language ? Component KO . Sarangpani Community Leaders today
Activisism in Tamil
How did they deal with issues
Challenges and Effectiveness
• Very active , aggressive even .
• Formed Tamil Organisations
Programme
• Tamil Language Festival
• Sorpor ( Tamil Debate for Pri School Students )
• Tamil Language Forum
• Fun @ Library
• Back to School Project
• There were no framewroks in place yet .
• Thus , he was able to maneavour very easily and form his own Tamil base .
• The community had a sense of belonging .
• Tamil was valued .
• Thus , it was easier to form a community identiy around Tamil .
Role of Tamil Community Leaders
Background :
• In Singapore , traditionally Tamil language and culture is promoted via two main ways .
1 . Education : Singapore has adopted the Mother Tongue policy which aims to expose students in their Mother Tongue , and using the language as a medium , to immerse them in the culture of the community .
2 . Media and entertainment : Channels such as Vasantham and Oli 96.8 aim to do the same thing as mentioned above but in a more relatable manner .
• Are very active but cannot be aggressive .
• Either continued managing the Tamil organisations or formed new ones .
• Work within the existing frameworks given by political leaders as well as manage petty resistance to changes
• Tamil has a low societal value attached to it
• No perceived economic value .
• Thus , it is more difficult to promote Tamil
Author : Mr Saravanan Rathakrishnan
• However , in more recent years , community events have taken the center stage . Community organizations such as TLC , have taken a more active role in building Tamil and attempting to use it as a binding force within the community .
• Our community organizations are focusing on solving the decreasing fluency and uptake of Tamil via a variety of methods that seem to focus on solving the immediate problem which is the decline in Tamil .
Table 2 : Comparison between past and current community leadership Excerpt 1 : Answers from Interview with Mr . Irshath , Tamil Language Council
• Given the current constraints and problems , the community organizations are trying effectively , to a certain extent , to promote Tamil in Singapore .
• Their efforts seem to be paying off in terms of more youths taking up the mantle to preserve Tamil and by organising Tamil events which are usually oversubscribed ( a good indicator ). Their efforts seem to be paying off qualitatively as well . ( See Excerpt 1 below ).
• However there are very little quantitative reports for the analysis of the performance of these community organizations , Mr . Irshath Mohamad , member of the Tamil Language Council states that :
“ The efforts of the Tamil Language Council in trying to get a standardised quantitative report for their partners to indicate the effectiveness of their events during Tamil Language Festival may be the first step for Tamil organisations to go in the right step to measure the usefulness of their efforts .”
Question : What are the measures undertaken in promoting Tamil among the youth . Have these measures been successful ? If not , what can be done ? Answer : Tamil Language Festival is organised in the month of April every year for the past 10 years . There have been a host of events organised for every age group , with an increasing focus given to youth . This year , almost 50 % of the events were targeted on youths . Apart from TLF , there are other activities , programmes and initiatives targeted on youth to promote Tamil , such as those organised by tertiary based Tamil organisations ( NUS TLS , NTU TLS , and Polytechnic ICS ).
Question : The Tamil Language Festival is gaining more exposure and funding in Singapore . What are your thoughts on its efficacy in promoting Tamil ? Answer : The objectives of the festival are clear . Their slogan “ Love Tamil , Speak Tamil ” says it all . However , it can be even more successful through the following ways .
• Focus should be on the intended target group ( Students , youth )
• Less focus , less resources should be channelled to established and mature organisations that organise standardised events held yearly with no new additions .
• Efforts should be focussed on individuals and groups that come up with exemplary , new , creative and enriching ideas . Before that , these people should be identified and encouraged to participate in these efforts .