Koya Told to Stop Degrading Formal Hindi

Professor Biman Prasad has slammed Opposition MP Faiyaz Koya for what he describes as continuing the FijiFirst legacy of diluting the importance of formal Hindi in Fiji.

The National Federation Party leader said Mr Koya’s insistence on promoting Fiji Hindi is not only insulting but a clear attempt to degrade the formal language of Indo-Fijians, arguing that formal Hindi holds not just linguistic value but deep cultural and religious significance for many Indo-Fijians.

Professor Prasad stressed that formal Hindi and i-Taukei (Vosa Vakaviti) should be made compulsory subjects up to Year 8 in primary schools, with students given the option to choose one as a vernacular subject.

He said there is growing interest across communities, with many i-Taukei students eager to learn formal Hindi, while Indo-Fijian students and those from other ethnic backgrounds may also wish to learn languages beyond their mother tongue.

“At the same time, institutions governed by religious and cultural organisations such as TISI Sangam, Fiji Muslim League, the Chinese and the Gujarati communities must be free to also hire with the help of government support, language teachers to teach Tamil, Urdu, Mandarin and Gujarati to students wanting to learn their mother tongue apart from either formal Hindi or i-Taukei,” he said.

Professor Prasad said this approach would create a national wave of understanding across language, culture, tradition and custom, and serve as the strongest platform to build genuine unity in Fiji’s multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-racial society.

Responding to Mr Koya’s comments during deliberations on the Education Commission’s submission, which included a proposal for Sanskrit-based Hindi to be taught in schools instead of Fiji Hindi, Professor Prasad said the Opposition MP was attempting to dilute Indo-Fijian culture.

“He must realise that Hindi scriptures are in formal Hindi and not Fiji Hindi. His insistence on promoting Fiji Hindi and the 2013 Constitution that states conversational and contemporary Hindi and i-Taukei be taught as compulsory subjects at all primary schools is totally unacceptable,” he said.

Professor Prasad maintained that conversational Hindi has its place, but is derived from formal Hindi and should not replace it.

“No one is against Fiji or conversational Hindi. It comes out of the teaching of formal Hindi. But Fiji Hindi is not a vernacular language on its own,” he said.

He also pointed to the coalition government’s actions to reinforce the status of formal Hindi and i-Taukei, noting that the World Hindi Conference was hosted in February 2023 shortly after the government took office.

“We amended the Standing Orders of Parliament, and now MPs in both Government and the Opposition can debate in either i-Taukei (Vosa Vakaviti) or formal Hindi. Even Mr Koya’s colleagues in the Opposition are now speaking formal Hindi in Parliament,” he said.

Professor Prasad added that the government would not allow any attempt to weaken formal Hindi as an official language.