An online certificate course on Toda language, society and worldview was inaugurated in Udhagamandalam on Friday.

The course is being taught by the Madras School of Social Work as an open-learning course. The Madras School of Social Work Centre for Social Justice and Equity is collaborating with the Association for the Development and Preservation of Toda Language and Toda Nala Vaazhvu Sangam on the 4-month-long course.

The course was inaugurated by the Nilgiris district Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru in the presence of members from the Toda community.

Dr. Tarun Chhabra, founder of the Toda Nala Vaazhvu Sangam, told The Hindu this is one of the first times a tribal language is being taught as part of an online course, with more than 200 people already having enrolled from across India. He said that the inputs of the community were taken on board in developing the modules for the course.

Mr. Chhabra said that the Toda language was listed by UNESCO as a “critically endangered language” due to having less than 1,500 speakers. “Although the intergenerational exchange of language between older and younger generations of the Todas is quite robust, the language is being diluted with words from other languages seeping into the Toda lexicon,” said Mr. Chhabra.

He said that members of the Toda community are also being encouraged to join the course, with the course being free for people from tribal communities while a small fee is being charged for non-tribal members who wish to sign up for the course.