Africa-Press – Mauritius. To mark Hindi Day 2023, the Hindi Speaking Union organised an award ceremony to honour the outstanding achievements of students in the Hindi Subject in the School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations November/December 2022.
The ceremony that was held on 23 September 2023, in Réduit, was graced by the Acting President of the Republic of Mauritius, Mr Marie Cyril Eddy Boissézon, the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, the Minister of Arts and Cultural Heritage, Mr Avinash Teeluck, and the President of the Hindi Speaking Union, Dr O.
Narain Gangoo. In his address on the occasion, the Acting President of the Republic of Mauritius, remarked that the Hindi language is very old, has a direct line of evolution to Sanskrit and as such is part of one of the oldest religious and literary traditions in the world that have influenced other religions and works of art. Hindi, he emphasised, is incredibly important in the historic development of the world’s cultures, and well worth not just honouring, but studying.
Mr Marie Cyril Eddy Boissézon congratulated all those students who are studying Hindi as an academic subject, adding that last year, 153 out of the 155 candidates excelled in the Hindi subject at the HSC examinations (98.7%), with 45% scoring A or A+, while for the SC examinations, 1,636 candidates out of 1,720 passed their examinations with 82% obtaining a credit.
The Acting President highlighted that among the Indian diaspora countries, Mauritius has a special place when it comes to the preservation and promotion of the Hindi language.
Since the 1980s, he said, the language education policy of successive Mauritian Governments has been to encourage the teaching of ancestral languages as part of the linguistic and cultural heritage of Mauritians.
Mr Boissézon pointed out that Hindi Literature in Mauritius is nearly one hundred years old and that Mauritius is one of the rare countries of the diaspora where besides spreading the Hindi language, literature in Hindi language is being developed.
Besides, the support of the Government of India to Mauritius in its actions to preserve and promote Hindi language and Hindi literature through the setting up of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian Culture, was underpinned by the Acting President, who also recalled that the World Hindi Secretariat is headquartered in Mauritius.
He expressed conviction that with the fifth largest number of total speakers in the world, it makes sense that Hindi will be established one day as an official language at the United Nations, alongside the six presently official languages.
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