Punjabi language on the wane?
No other public or private university cater the classes in Punjabi language
Lahore, Apr 17: What it could be more pitiable that Punjabi, the language of
19 million people of Punjab and equal number of population abroad, is
grossly neglected in our educational institutions. Punjabi
language and literature is taught only in 40 out of 450 colleges in the
province at graduate level and at postgraduate level only at Punjab
University. No other public or private university cater the classes in
Punjabi language at any level. What is more surprising is the fact that
there is no Punjabi teacher in number of colleges as there is only one
teacher in 40 colleges where the discipline is taught. There is no
research journal in Punjabi literature except 'The Lekh', a biennial
literary journal in the private sector. It is edited and published by a
renowned Punjabi scholar Prof Dr Nasir Rana of Govt MAO College. 'The
Lekh' is tri-lingual journal carrying literary articles in Punjabi,
Urdu and English. The first issue of 'The Lekh' was brought out in June
2005 and since then it is published regularly without any editorial and
financial support from anywhere. Mir Ali Nawaz Talpur's Punjabi
poetry (kafees) and Baqi Siddiqui's popular Punjabi plays aired on
Radio Pakistan are published by 'Lekh' besides a number of hitherto
unpublished and hidden treasures of Punjab literature which are
published by Lekh magazine off and on for the benefit of scholars. Though
'The Lekh' journal is of international standard but unfortunately it
neither recognised by the government nor by the HEC although its
research work is better than the existing source material available
here. It has a circulation of over 500 copies at home as well as
abroad and is circulated in universities in UK, Canada and America. It
is full of much-needed Punjabi literary critics and research for
scholars. Moreover the only journal in public sector the biennial
'Khoj' of Punjab University is also victim of general apathy and it is
seldom published due to non-cooperation of scholars and shortage of
funds. Editor The Lekh Dr Nasir Rana told this correspondent that the plight
of learning Punjabi literature was miserable. Once it was major subject
in the faculty of Arts where 8,000 students applied for admission in
the year 1997. Gradually the students lost interest in Punjabi perhaps
due to rising importance of job-oriented higher education in science
and commerce. Today MA Punjabi seats remain vacant and admissions
remain unfulfilled. The regular and private candidates who appear
in Punjabi at Punjab University MA exams are not more than 250. Even
the PhD allowance to Punjabi PhD degree holder is half than the science
and arts due to criminal negligence of the authorities. Dr Rana
said it is wholly untrue that the job opportunities to Master's in
Punjabi is restricted, although it is minimum as compared to science
and commerce and other subjects of arts. The Punjabi laureates are much
needed in Radio, Television and newspapers. Punjabi language
programmes must be 25pc of all programmes in radio and television
according to the regulations of electronic media but this is grossly
violated. Dr Rana said Punjabi literature is vast in magnitude
after Arabic while English literature is stands at No 3. According to a
Russian Orientalist Ms I Serebravakove who in her book, History of
Punjabi literature said that Punjabi was biggest literature after
Arabic particularly its folk literature. Waris Shah is Punjabi
Shakespeare- rather greatest dramatist than Shakespeare. After Quran,
the 'Hafiz' (learning by heart) of Heer Warish Shah was highest. Shah
Hussain, Bulleh Shah, Hafiz Barkhurdar and Pilu are legendary Punjabi
poets and laureates known world wide and second to none. The nation
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GCUF students protest case registration
Faisalabad: Over three hundred students of the Government
College University, Faisalabad, on Friday boycotted their classes and
held a demonstration to protest the arrest of their four fellow
students and non-availability of cold drinking water on the university
premises. The demonstrators gathered in front of the
vice-chancellor's office and chanted slogans against the administration
for lodging a case against four students - Umer, Azhar, Gulfraz and
Rizwan - by declaring them outsiders after they visited the Sir Syed
Hostel in People's Colony to see their friends the other day. They
said the administration had been teasing students by adopting different
tactics rather than facilitating them. They said the administration had
not arranged cold drinking water despite several demands made by them. The
police baton charged the demonstrators when the latter were preparing
to take to the road for agitation. One of the demonstrators fell on the
ground and fainted. The police took nine students into
custody, however, they were released when the administration took an
undertaking from them that they would not indulge in any kind of
wrongdoings in future. The students also broke the windowpanes
of a classroom in Yousuf Block and then marched towards Chiniot Bazaar
Chowk. They threw traffic out of gear for around one hour by torching
old tyres and later held a demonstration in front of the press club and
in Zila Council Chowk. Some of the protesters also misbehaved
with a few faculty members, including controller of examination Javed
Aslam, environment department head Ahmed Saeed Bhatti and Afzal Sipra,
head of telecommunications department, after they persuaded the
students not to hold the demonstration. A meeting of the Academic Staff Association of the GUCF also condemned the students' misbehaviour with the faculty. In
the evening, acting vice-chancellor Dr Shahid Mehboob met with
students' representatives and assured them that the university
administration had been doing its level best to facilitate them.
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School faces shortage of teachers
Attock: There are only four teachers employed at a government
high school in Hazro tehsil against the required strength of 19, it has
been learnt. Some notables of the area said
that the teachers including an SST headmaster were teaching 800
primary, middle and high school level students. Even then the overall
performance of the school had been good, they said and warned if the
government did not pay attention to this very issue, the shortage of
teachers could affect the school's results. Dawn
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