The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, a winning party in the recent election in Arakan, will propose in state parliament that children in primary schools around Arakan are given the opportunity to learn Arakanese writing, said U Aung Mra Kyaw ...
Sittwe: The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, a winning party in the recent election in Arakan, will propose in state parliament that children in primary schools around Arakan are given the opportunity to learn Arakanese writing, said U Aung Mra Kyaw, General Secretary of Sittwe Township RNDP, as well as an elected MP in the Arakan State parliament from Sittwe.
"We decided to propose the plan of teaching Arakanese writing in primary schools during the next session of parliament. It is a top priority of our party to propose this in parliament. We should have the right to learn our mother tongue in government primary schools in Arakan State," he said.
The RNDP won a majority of the seats in the Arakan State parliament, and because of this, the party hopes to accomplish something for the development of Arakan State through parliament.
"We won 18 seats in our state parliament. Moreover, most of the MPs in our state parliament are Arakanese even if they are from the government-backed USDP. So they also support our proposal to teach our literature in Arakan State. We hope our proposal will be successful," he said.
He added that "the RNDP is now discussing with well-educated Arakanese and older historians in and out of the country how to develop an Arakanese language curriculum and text books for teaching in all classes in primary schools. We have to prepare the curriculum of Arakanese text books to submit in parliament along with our proposal."
Even though the RNDP won a majority of seats in the election, the party still is limited in its influence because 12 parliamentary seats were reserved for the army, which supports and cooperates with the USDP.
"Our party did not win any important positions in Arakan State such as the state prime minister, president, or vice-president of state parliament. But we are able to propose in our state parliament whatever we need for our state development. It is our duty because we have a mandate given by the Arakanese people in the last election," he added.
Arakan state parliament started on 31 January and the second session resumed on 11 February after the state prime minister is appointed by President U Thein Sein.
In the state parliament there are 47 MPs, and among them are 18 MPs from the RNDP, 13 MPs from the USDP, 12 from the army, 2 MPs from the NDPD, 1 MP from the NUP, and 1 MP from a minority Chin community.
