Safeguarding linguistic and ethnic diversities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: A study on state policies and initiatives

Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh have distinct mother tongues differentiating each eleven indigenous ethnic groups from one another with exclusive features and cultural traits. However, increasing dominance Bengalis CHT appears to pose a substantial threat linguistic diversities peoples. The Constitution several national policy documents, on other hand, explicitly mention state’s obligation protect promote languages cultures. Therefore, this study aims explore initiatives, special focus providing primary education tongue, that been implemented by state provide safeguards native discuss probable consequences practicing Bangla language Twenty-one in-depth qualitative interviews two group discussions (FGDs) were conducted regard. This article illustrates how struggle maintain their indigeneity because ethnolinguistic hegemony as well deeply ingrained inequalities within mechanism.