Unknown to many in Singapore, a small segment of the student population attends school on Saturdays to study their mother tongue languages. Unlike most students who learn their mother tongue during the weekdays, these students take NTIL (Non-Tamil Indian Languages) classes on weekendsinclude or after regular classes during the weekday curriculum.

Held apart from the weekday syllabus , these classes have existed almost in the margins of the Singapore education experience since the late 20th century. The current educational curriculum  ensures the continued teaching and preservation of these languages –  Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu.

This archive is our attempt to document the cultural narratives and histories surrounding the teaching of NTIL languages and their role in preserving the heritage of minority South Asian communities in Singapore. Through this effort, we aim to create a living resource that highlights the underrepresented significance of these communities in Singapore’s diverse cultural landscape.Specifically, we seek to shed light on the evolution of NTIL education and its profound impact on the lives of students, parents, and educators.