The workshop in progress. Picture by Biplab Basak

Jalpaiguri, June 8: A Calcutta-based NGO — Panchanan Mission — has taken the initiative to compile words from the different dialects spoken in the six districts of north Bengal.

The dictionary is being compiled to promote literacy in the local dialects.

A two-day workshop,starting today, is being held at Subhas Bhavan in Jalpaiguri in this connection.

The workshop is being held for “would-be word-collectors”, who will cover north Bengal on behalf of the mission.

Volunteers from Malda, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and other districts of north Bengal are participating in the workshop.

The project, named after north Bengal linguist Sadhu Panchanan Burma, will compile vocabularies of dialects, which are “similar to Bengali”.

Secretary of the mission Bijoy Burman said: “We found that it was necessary to use local dialects like Rajbanshi to spread literacy among people, especially in the rural belt. To ensure that people understand the purpose of the literacy drive, we decided to compile words and phrases in the form of a dictionary.” Panchanan Mission will also design a syllabus to make the literacy mission a success.

The mission secretary said: “The word-collector will move from house to house to gather words and will also take help from books and research papers published in this regard.”

The NGO, which is associated with the National Literacy Mission and the State Resource Centre for Adult Education, hopes that the local dialect dictionary will also help researchers.

Coordinator of state resources centre Nibedita Kundu said: “The move to use a local dialect to promote adult education will be a success as it helps learners identify with a language that they know and is commonly used. We are conducting projects in Jhargram to study whether Bengali or the local dialect is received better.”