Bhubaneswar, Aug. 18 -- In Odisha's Rayagada district, 14 Saora tribal families in Engerba village are fighting to save their mother tongue from extinction, offering rice or pulses as meals to teachers and students as an incentive. The families contribute food grains to the SP Mangali Ashram school, where 62 students from Classes I to VIII learn in Saora and study the indigenous Sorang Sompeng script. The villagers established the school after realising that Saora children were gradually losing their language and traditional script amid the dominance of state languages in formal education. They pooled their savings, built a mud structure and began teaching children in Saora. "The idea was to ensure children learnt their mother tongue and Sorang Sompeng script before moving to higher classes, where instruction was more likely to be in Odia or English," said Chakrapani Sabara, a retired government official who took over the school's administration after its founder, Giria Sabar, died over a decade ago. "In the Engerba school, teachers now conduct examinations in Saora and the Sorang Sompeng script. Textbooks are translated into Saora before being taught, while material available in Odia or English is transcribed into the Sorang Sompeng script and explained to students. When these children move on to high school or college, they would have already retained their language and learnt the script," Sabara said. The initiative reflects a wider struggle across Odisha, where nearly 10 million tribals from 64 communities speak 21 distinct tribal languages and 74 dialects. Younger generations, however, are forgetting their native tongues and, with them, an intrinsic part of their identity. Some communities are documenting oral histories and songs; others are developing teaching materials and scripts to prevent their languages from disappearing. The state government adopted a multilingual education programme in 2006, under which tribal children were taught in their mother tongue during the first five years of primary education. UNESCO considers languages spoken by fewer than 10,000 people potentially endangered. As many as 197 Indian tribal languages have been classified as endangered. Only Santhali, Ho, Sora and Kui have their own scripts. While Santhali is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, efforts are underway to secure similar recognition for Ho. Language researcher Gobardhan Panda has spent four decades documenting Remosam, spoken by the Bonda tribe, one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in Malkangiri district. UNESCO classifies Remosam as severely endangered, with only an estimated 6,500 to 7,000 fluent speakers, mainly in the Upper Bonda hills. Panda, who has worked in the Bonda Hills since 1982, has written a book, 'Remosam, Manisha bhasha'. "I started speaking with them in Remosam within six months of living there and I promised the Bondas that as long as I am alive, I would speak to them in their language....I tell them whatever happens, never forget your language. It is your priceless heritage," said Panda. In the same district, three Didayi farmers have begun recording forgotten words, folk stories and festival songs in Gta Asa, the Didayi language, which has no written script. In Sundargarh, the Oraon community holds weekly meetings where elders encourage younger members to converse in Kurux. At Engerba, the school continues without government support. Its 14 teachers, some graduates and B.Ed degree holders, receive no salary and share meals with students. Villagers have also agreed to contribute from their wages earned on road construction. "The arrangements are surely modest but I am happy that the community has kept a language and a script alive for more than two decades," said Sabara....