“The loss of mother tongues in Campeche is a serious problem”, Anthropologist says

The state official recognized the problem in the new generations, there is a total lack of interest in learning the Maya language from the people living in Campeche’s indigenous areas.

(CAMPECHE – TYT).- Anthropologist Gaspar Cahuich Ramírez of the Ministry of Welfare and Inclusion, affirmed that the loss of mother tongues in the state is a serious problem.

In addition to the lack of interpreters and translators of the different mother tongues that Campeche has, the anthropologist and person in charge of the area of indigenous affairs , due to the lack of dissemination and strategies to preserve the Maya culture of the people of Campeche and the Yucatan Peninsula,” he asserted.

He recognized that the state has a range of 330 indigenous communities and there are only 50 bilingual cultural schools in the state.

“The children arrive at the classroom with the Maya dialect as a base, and instead of continuing with Maya lessons so the student can become bilingual, they start with classes in Spanish and the Maya is just put aside and eventually forgotten”, declared Cahuich Ramírez.

In addition, he also admitted that of the 294 indigenous schools in Campeche, located mainly in municipalities such as Tenabo, Hecelchakán, Calkiní, Hopelchén, Calakmul, Candelaria and Champotón, the learning of the mother’s dialect is not official, and the students must have the initiative of preserving the Maya culture and language.

For this reason, Cahuich Ramírez emphasized the need for Seduc to carry out what is pertinent in coordination with other entities to implement the necessary strategies to maintain the Maya culture in an institutional manner, since there was even a Language Center in Campeche, but it was shut down due to the lack of interest by previous governments.

“Not only the state government, but the indigenous communities and the federal authorities must also get actively involved to obtain success, our children should learn the mother tongue because they want to, we all come from an indigenous ancestor and we should be proud of it“, Anthropologist Gaspar Cahuich Ramírez of the Ministry of Welfare and Inclusion said. 

Cahuich Ramirez concluded: “If you go to Germany and ask them what language they speak, they say German. You go to England and you ask the same question, the answer is English. So why can’t we just say we speak Maya?”

The Yucatan Times
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