Tabu Ram Taid is an Indian Linguist, Author, Educator and Administrator. His works and achievements were inspired the people of Assam.

Early life and education

Tabu Ram Taid (Assamese: টাবু ৰাম টাইড, Hindi: टाबु राम टाइड) known as Tabu Taid was born in a remote and flood affected village, named Ghunasuti Ayengia, located in the Lakhimpur district of Assam, India. His father, Ubang Taid, was a small, subsistence level farmer, who had to struggle to make both ends meet in maintaining his family of nine members—two daughters, five sons and the couple. The late Ubang Taid, who could only read and write Assamese, was, however, an enlightened man in the sense that he did not desist from sending all his children, except his eldest child, to school. Two of his children went on beyond the lower primary level for schooling at the upper primary and high school levels in the nearest town, North Lakhimpur. Of the two, Tabu Ram Taid, went on to receive Intermediate and undergraduate education under Calcutta University and postgraduate level education at Delhi University, despite the fact that he lost his father when in the seventh standard and that the entire area, where their village was located, started suffering from economic devastation due to recurring floods and erosion since the major 1950 earthquake in Assam. As a student, Mr Taid had always been above the average and was determined to struggle on till he completes his postgraduate studies, financial distress notwithstanding. He managed to get in touch with the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama at Narendrapur in the outskirts of Kolkata for his post-Matric education and the latter agreed to take care of his education, the only condition being that he would have to surrender his scholarship money to the Mission authorities. After his graduation with Honours (1963) from the Narendrapur R. K. Mission College under Calcutta University, he wanted to go to Delhi University for his Master’s degree, for which he worked as a schoolteacher for more than a year for some capital, enrolled himself at Hindu College in 1964 and obtained his postgraduate degree in 1966. Thus through sheer determination Mr Taid, virtually a penniless tribal youth, managed to receive his post-Matric education up to the Master’s level in two of the best universities in the country. Later, after he had joined as a lecturer in the department of English at Cotton College, the premier institute of higher education in the North-East, and on winning a State Overseas Scholarship, Mr Taid obtained a postgraduate diploma in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading, UK (1973–1974). He also did a certificate course in distance education at the University of London Institute of Education (1982) under a British Council fellowship programme. (It may be stated here that Mr Taid sat, without having had any coaching for the purpose, the combined competitive examinations of the UPSC for the first, and the last, time in 1969, the results of which were announced sometime in the early part of 1970. He was recommended by the UPSC for both IAS and IFS, thus becoming the first Plains Tribal youth from Assam to have achieved the distinction, but, unfortunately, his adverse medical report deprived him of an actual appointment to either of the cadres.

Career in education

Tabu Ram Taid was start his creer as school teacher. Later he was jont as lecturer at Cotton College. Tabu Ram Taid left the teaching post he held at Cotton College for fourteen years (1967–1981) and joined as an educational administrator in 1981, being posted first as a Deputy Director of Public Instruction. Later he was elevated to different higher posts such as Director, SCERT, Director of Secondary Education, Director of Higher Education, Chairman, Board of Secondary Education, Chairman, State Selection Board (higher education), etc. under the Education Department of the government of Assam. The state government had also deputed Mr Taid as the first Director of the state-sponsored Institute, named Anundoram Borooah Institute of Language, Art and Culture, entrusting him with the responsibility of building it up as an institute for research and publications, especially in the areas of indigenous languages, literature and culture – a job which he accomplished well. He retired from state government service in the year 2000, but continued as the Chairman of the State Selection Board (higher education) till February, 2004. During the years of his assignment as the Chairman of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (1996–2000), he was the unanimous choice for the chair of the Zonal Council of Boards of Secondary Education (COBSE), Nort-East Zone, and he was due to take over as the Chairman of the national body (COBSE) on the 4th April, 2001, but meanwhile he had returned to his parent post on April 1, 2000.

Language preservation

Taid has also been active in preserving his native tribal language, Mising. In 1972, he founded the Mising Agom Kébang (Linguistic Society of the Mising), serving until 1980 as its president. The organization helped reintroduce the language into primary schools. He has published a number of papers about the Mising language as well as an orthography and dictionary of the language, and he has edited collections of Mising folk songs.

Authorship

Taid authored a series of lessons in English for school students which have been broadcast over radio multiple times since the mid 1970s. He has also authored a number of English textbooks for elementary students and several key volumes about Mising, Mising Bhaxar Banan Poddhoti (an orthography) and Mising Gompir Kumsung (a dictionary).

He has written widely in periodicals in Assamese, English and his native tribal language, Mising. There are two volumes of his collected articles, Ekunki Nibondho (Bouquet of Articles) and Glimpses.

The government of Assam bestowed a literary pension on him to recognize his contributions to literature.