‘English shouldn’t be promoted at the cost of Urdu’

Islamabad : With the National Language Promotion Department already made all arrangements for the introduction of Urdu as the official language in the country, the relevant authorities need to take necessary steps for the purpose, said noted scholar, intellectual and critic Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik.Addressing a seminar here on the introduction of the national language in line with the needs of current times, Prof Fateh said the repeated claims of the quarters concerned about introducing uniform education system in the country had turned out to be mere rhetoric as a class-based education system continued to exist.He said uniformity meant the presence of English in schools as a medium of instruction across the board from developed cities to developing towns to underdeveloped villages.The scholar said everyone realised that the learning of English was imperative for educational and scientific progress but people shouldn’t forget that learning the English language was different from learning in the English language. He said efforts were made to introduce a uniform educational system but they all were focused on introducing English as a medium of instruction in educational institutions.Prof Fateh called for giving formal education to children and youths in the country’s own languages, especially Urdu.NLPD chief and noted poet Iftikhar Arif said all constitutional documents introduced in the country had declared Urdu the national language,He said the country’s development depended on the best possible education and training of its manpower.The NLPD chief said people should get a command on English language but that shouldn’t happen at the cost of the development of Urdu.He said a five-member ministerial committee had been formed to introduce Urdu as a national language at all levels.Scholar Dr Ehsan Akbar said no one could deny the importance of Urdu in current times but unfortunately, not a single university of the country had arrangements for Urdu language’s teaching and research. He said Urdu departments in all universities taught Urdu literature and not language.Critic Dr Najeeba Arif said the languages were natural heritage but unfortunately, the country’s no university used Urdu as a language for research.Scholar Dr Akhtar Nashad said the languages were the symbol of identity for nations and therefore, they should be protected.

from The News International - Islamabad https://ift.tt/2GYEHwR