MEDIA RELEASE
Embargoed for Sunday 27 March 2016
Celebrating 10 years of the Tamil Language Festival in Singapore
The Tamil Language Council is pleased to present an exciting line-up of 42 programmes by 40 partners, celebrating this year’s Tamil Language Festival (TLF) and marking a decade of efforts in promoting and preserving the Tamil language in Singapore.
Tamil Language Festival 2016
From 2 to 30 April 2016, the community can participate in a series of literary, oratorical and cultural events that will encourage them to “Love Tamil, Speak Tamil”, embrace their mother tongue and use the language in their daily lives.
Prominent partners this year include the Indian Heritage Centre (IHC), the National Library Board (NLB), the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS), and the Ministry of Education’s Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee (TLLPC) and Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre (UPTLC), and more.
A total of seven new partners have also joined the stalwart set of festival
partners, to collectively celebrate and promote the language to influence and
encourage the next generation of Tamil speakers.
Additionally, several schools such as Crescent Girls School, Yishun Secondary School, Yishun Junior College and Bartley Secondary School under the auspices of TLLPC have been organizing innovative and exciting programmes for students in their cluster from as early as January leading up to the Festival in April. These include a trail shuttle, workshops and competitions in areas such as short film production, Tamil app development and a student seminar on language and literature
“The success of the Tamil Language Festival would not have been possible if not for our many programme partners that have supported us for so many years. Our generous donors have enabled our progress in promoting and preserving our Mother Tongue. We are also grateful to our literary pioneers as champions of the Tamil language, and we remain hopeful that the next generation will continue to take pride in the rich Tamil language that will continue to be ours to preserve,” says Mr R Rajaram, Chairman of the Tamil Language Council.
Youths Give Back to the Festival
The Tamil Language Festival’s continued focus on reaching the youths throughout the years is also reaping return, and the young are now coming back in strong support of the festival. Once participants of past festivals as students, they now come forward as members of youth organisations or tertiary institutions, to organise events and programmes for their peers and juniors.
Ms Dakshitaa Babu was a secondary student when she first participated in the 2014 Tamil Language Festival. Even at that tender age, she was already keen on delivering for her peers, an immersive language experience, that would bring the language to life. Now a first year student at the Tampines Junior College and supported by a Tamil Community Organisation, she helms Theadal, a heritage trail cum amazing race at Little India, for this year’s festival.
The enthusiastic youth members of the National University of Singapore’s Tamil Language Society (NUS-TLS) who have experienced previous years’ festivals, will come together this year to organise a literary quiz programme, adapted from a popular TV show. With this programme, they hope to inspire their peers with their love for the Tamil Language.
Indian Muslim Professionals (IM.PROF) is a group of youths who are deeply passionate about Tamil, its language characteristics and rigour. For this year’s TLF, they will present a programme entitled, “Tamil in Western World”. This programme throws the spotlight on how Tamil is used in Western countries, and provides a comparative study of its use across countries and continents.
As an acknowledgement of appreciation to the pioneers of the Tamil language who have done much to preserve the language, the youths of Avant Theatre will present “Kavicharal – Celebrating Local Writers”, and showcase the works of Singapore’s Cultural Medallion Winner, Mr P.Krishnan in their drama production.
Living Language, Living Heritage
A second edition of the “Living Language, Living Heritage” notebooks will also be produced and distributed to students and the public this year. This is a continuing collaboration between the National Heritage Board and the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre. The inaugural edition of this popular notebook was first launched last year, to much anticipation and acclaim. This second edition will feature a selection of traditional objects from Indian culture and heritage, complete with a compilation of motivational Tamil lyrics featuring poetic use of the language.
Outreach for TLF 2016
In an effort to promote this year’s festival, all our programme partners will also come together for an Outreach and Publicity Drive at Little India on Sunday, 27 March 2016. This promotional effort is supported by the Little India Shopkeepers & Heritage Association (LISHA). The festival’s calendar of events and posters will be distributed to invite the public and the business community to support the month-long Tamil Language Festival.
Launch of the Tamil Language Festival 2016
Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry), will officially launch the month-long festival “live” on Mediacorp Vasantham on Saturday 2 April at 6.30pm.
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About Tamil Language Council and the Tamil Language Festival
The Tamil Language Festival is spearheaded by the Tamil Language Council which was formed in 2000 under the auspices of MICA. It comprises representatives from the education sector, major community organisations, arts groups and the media.
The Council has organised the Festival since 2007 with partner organisations marking it a major event in their organisational calendar. There has also been a growing number of organisations participating. Today, National Heritage Board (NHB) is the Council Secretariat, under MCCY.
A key partner for the Tamil Language Festival is MOE’s Tamil Language and Learning Promotion Committee (TLLPC). Set up in 2006. TLLPC’s strategic focus is to promote the speaking and learning of Tamil among students.
The Tamil Language Council celebrates the 10th anniversary of the
Tamil Language Festival this year.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Rita Goh
Senior Assistant Director
Language, Division
National Heritage Board
DID: +65 6332 5427
Mobile: +65 9678 5516
Email: rita_goh@nhb.gov.sg