[lg policy] Pakistan: Int=?windows-1252?Q?=92l_?=Mother Language Day--Education in mother tongue stressed for children

[Harold Schiffman]

Int’l Mother Language Day

Education in mother tongue stressed for children

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: To celebrate the Mother Language Day, Idara Baraye
Taleem-o-Tarraqi (IBT) in collaboration with British Council (BC)
organised a seminar on Monday in which representatives of more than 18
languages, mostly from the Northern Pakistan stressed the need to
educate the children at initial stage in their mother tongues.

Tony Capstick, British Council English language Advisor chaired the
first session titled, ‘Language in Education Policy Dialogue’ who
focused on the use of mother language at the initial stage and use of
Urdu and English as a medium of communication at secondary stage.

The second session of the seminar titled, ‘Listen to the vanishing
voices of Pakistan’ focused on the significance of promoting regional
languages by giving its due place in the education policy in order to
develop as a unified nation.

Member parliament from ANP Bushra Gohar addressing on the occasion
said, ‘Regional languages should be given their rightful place at home
and at schools while Urdu should remain as the communication language,
if regional languages are recognized it will help in strengthening
solidarity among the nation’.

While Fauzia Minallah, a writer and rights activist asserted, ‘Our
respect for the great diversity of regional languages and cultures is
imperative in order to promote mutual understanding and cooperation.
Today the western culture is dominating our national culture because
we have ignored our native languages and cultures,’ she lamented.

David Martin Director of British Council Pakistan addressing to the
seminar said, ‘Language is a key element of culture and part of our
identity and if Pakistan loses few of its languages then it will
ultimately lose the cultural identity.’ Therefore we must play our due
roles to preserve not only official and national languages but also
regional languages.

‘More than 65 regional languages are spoken in Pakistan. Some of these
have a few hundred speakers while a few are highly endangered
languages that may soon have no speakers at all, informed Muhammad
Zaman Sagar, language activist in a brief introduction on the regional
languages of Pakistan such as Aer, Badeshi, Balti, Bateri, Burushaski,
Chitrali, Dehwari, Farsi (Dari), Gawar-Bati, Goaria, Gowro, Gujarati,
Hazaragi, Kabutra, Kachchi), Kalami, Kalasha, Kashmiri, Indus
Kohistani, Loarki, Marwari, Memoni, Pahari-Potwari, Shina, Torwali,
Vaghri, Wakhi, Waneci, and Yidgha. Zaman has has worked to preserve
and document the Gwari language which is spoken in the district of
Swar and Dir.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\02\22\story_22-2-2011_pg11_9

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