Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
Yeh zulam sirf sindh pe kyu?
I don't know, and I don't think that it's a wise decision.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
What are your concerns STA?
those which you have.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
how did you know, what are my concerns?
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
^ another pir pagara in the making?
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
There has been a growing realisation in the recent times that language is a significant political tool which is used by dominant groups to take control of marginalised groups. At the same time, language is a useful tool to put up resistance against hegemony. That is why post-colonial literature and feminist movements give central importance to language as they believe that language is an important constituent of social reality that may play a crucial role in titling the scale of power. Language is also viewed as a strong identity marker, both at an individual and societal level.
The Punjabi language has always been a victim of social, political and economic circumstances even before the partition of United India. In India, because of Mughal kings, whose mother tongue was Persian, Persian became the language of power and was used in courts. Urdu was very close to Persian in terms of vocabulary and structure and was mutually intelligible with Hindi. It also had an affinity with the Punjabi language at a semantic level. These multiple associations of Urdu made it popular in certain parts of India in general and in Muslim communities in particular.The British as a part of their policy got rid of Persian language in Sindh by replacing Persian with Sindhi but surprisingly, in Punjab, Persian was not replaced by Punjabi. Instead, it was Urdu that took the place of Persian.
One reason that was given by the British was that Urdu was a refined form of Punjabi. It is a sad fact that Punjabi was never viewed by the British decision makers as an independent language; rather it was looked down upon as a dialect or patois with relatively lower social standard. Why was Punjabi viewed as a dialect and not as a language?
Does Punjabi have no literature? On the contrary, Punjabi has a rich tradition of literature both in poetry and prose. But languages, in contemporary times, are not evaluated on their linguistic merits or demerits. Rather they are assessed primarily on social, political, and economic grounds. The attitude towards Punjabi was essentially based on social criteria.
Another milestone in the history of the Punjabi language was the Pakistan movement where three languages Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi were used as identity markers for the three major population groups of India, i.e. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. In this simplistic divide of languages (which was largely political in nature), Punjabi was the biggest casualty. A large number of Muslims whose mother tongue was Punjabi deserted it on political grounds as Punjabi was viewed as the language of Sikhs.
After independence in 1947, the question of national language was raised and Urdu, which was a minority language, was given the status of national language. The two overwhelmingly majority languages i.e., Bengali, and Punjabi were totally ignored. There was a powerful protest from Bengali people but there was no voice heard in favour of Punjabi by the Punjabi population. One important reason for this was that Punjab had a large share in the army and was close to power centres. Having a good share in army and bureaucracy, the Punjabi elite wanted to be a part of the mainstream powerful groups and in the process deserted their own language, Punjabi. It is surprising that Sindhi is taught in schools as a subject. Similarly Pashto is taught as a subject in some schools in KP. But Punjabi has never been a part of school education in Pakistan. Why is it so? Is there something inherently wrong with Punjabi?
It’s the social attitude of people that have associated Punjabi with informal and insignificant linguistic functions in life. The language desertion phenomenon is so visible in Punjabi urban families where parents speak with their children in Urdu which is considered to be a prestigious language. Another weakening factor for Punjabi is its low pragmatic value in terms of getting jobs on market. This factor is strengthened as Punjabi does not get any support from educational institutions.It is feared that a large number of families from Punjab would lose Punjabi language in a couple of generations. There are a number of researches available about the significant role of mother tongue in early education. If we want to reclaim Punjabi language, the first step is to provide it educational backing by teaching Punjabi as a subject in schools in Punjab. Also, there is a need of official patronage at least at the provincial level for the promotion of language.
It is important to note that the Constitution of Pakistan, Article 251, clearly states about the potential measures of teaching and promotion of a provincial language, “Without prejudice to the status of the national language, a provincial assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of language in addition to the national language.” The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly has passed a bill declaring five local languages as educational languages. This is a welcome initiative. Can Punjab Assembly pass some bill for the teaching and promotion of Punjabi in the province? The writer is Professor & Director of Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences at Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan.
He may be contacted at [email protected]
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
I heard they offer Punjabi language at Masters and PhD levels in Universities, but I always think why rich language like Punjabi having poets like Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah not taught at school level?
i think it's because masses feel that speaking Punjabi is kinda painDoo while speaking Urdu is a sign of sophistication and/or a sense of belonging to an elite class, just like in India/Pakistan English is the language of the elite and a sign of progress/advancement.
i also believe that Muslim Punjabis have NOT adopted "GURMUKHI" as the Punjabi script as Bangalis adopted Bengali Script.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
i think it's because masses feel that speaking Punjabi is kinda painDoo while speaking Urdu is a sign of sophistication and/or a sense of belonging to an elite class, just like in India/Pakistan English is the language of the elite and a sign of progress/advancement.
i also believe that Muslim Punjabis have NOT adopted "GURMUKHI" as the Punjabi script as Bangalis adopted Bengali Script.
Yes Punjabi is in some Persian script, but to be very frank I have never seen written Punjabi any where. There is an optional subject of Punjabi in Bachelor's or masters, but I dont know if any one does that as you wont get a job after that. Unless it is included as a language in schools, I dont see any future for it as a language and as a community I dont see any regret in the general populace as well.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
Its really a matter of concern that a rich language like Punjabi (rich by culture, poetry, literature) is disowned by fake political grounds that its a language of Sikhs (at the time of partition) and afterwards due to considering Urdu as mainstream language guarantying jobs. I know people in Sindh who speak dialects of Saraiki and Balochi (known as Barochi). These people never hesitate to teach and talk to their children in their mother tongue, though those dialects have little literature compared to Punjabi. I feel embarrassed that language of Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah has been disowned by ihl e zabaan.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
i think it's because masses feel that speaking Punjabi is kinda painDoo while speaking Urdu is a sign of sophistication and/or a sense of belonging to an elite class, just like in India/Pakistan English is the language of the elite and a sign of progress/advancement.
i also believe that Muslim Punjabis have NOT adopted "GURMUKHI" as the Punjabi script as Bangalis adopted Bengali Script.
KKF do you know whats the situation in Indian Punjab?
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
KKF do you know whats the situation in Indian Punjab?
i dunno but i safely assume Punjabi language in Punjab is the way of life...Punjabi is taught is schools at all levels and at universities as well.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
i dunno but i safely assume Punjabi language in Punjab is the way of life...Punjabi is taught is schools at all levels and at universities as well.
I think this is also connected with creation of literature. Where I don't remember seeing Punjabi literature and books published, I know people like Amarta Pritam and Khushwant Singh from India who wrote and worked for their language. Sindhi books are still being published on both sides of the border.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
I think this is also connected with creation of literature. Where I don't remember seeing Punjabi literature and books published, I know people like Amarta Pritam and Khushwant Singh from India who wrote and worked for their language. Sindhi books are still being published on both sides of the border.
do you have sindhi script? i believe, for a language to be complete is to have it's own literature in it's own script...this is lacked in Pakistan...they do NOT have Punjabi Script [Gurmukhi]
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
Sindhi have its own script. Its written in Persian/ Arabic style, but as it got 52 alphabets (more than Arabic/ Persian). Script was developed during British era and looks like as under:
I think Punjabi script can also be developed with the help of Sindhi script, as Saraiki script has been developed recently.
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Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
Its really a matter of concern that a rich language like Punjabi (rich by culture, poetry, literature) is disowned by fake political grounds that its a language of Sikhs (at the time of partition) and afterwards due to considering Urdu as mainstream language guarantying jobs. I know people in Sindh who speak dialects of Saraiki and Balochi (known as Barochi). These people never hesitate to teach and talk to their children in their mother tongue, though those dialects have little literature compared to Punjabi. I feel embarrassed that language of Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah has been disowned by ihl e zabaan.
I think Punjabis (Pakistani) as a whole have some inferiority complex, they want to be different as compared to Punjabis across the border. Hence if you ask any one they will say they are descendants of X,Y, Z and have no connection to the people across the border. Secondly the Punjabi elite has always been quick to learn foreign languages to land jobs, like Persian during moghul rule and English during British rule. These two were completely foreign languages, as far as Urdu is concerned its still not a foreign language per se. Anyways, after the partition the ruling elite was "Urdu Speaking" and Urdu which was the language of the minority was named as the national language.
Politically if we see Punjab didnt have any role till Zia (late 70's) and I am not really sure if Zia himself was a Punjabi or Urdu speaking. Effectively between 47 to 80's, Punjabis (middle class) had shunned their language in favour of Urdu to compete with the Urdu speaking elite ruling the country. The situation now is getting alarming, and if not checked in the future Punjabi will be eliminated from the Urban areas in a couple of generations.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
thank you…it was interesting to see that many alphabets…i think some sounds are specific to Sindhi…isn’t it?
Punjabi does have it’s own Script called Gurmukhi so it’s just a matter of adoption by Pakaistani Punjabis…gurmukhi looks like Hindi.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
I think Urdu script is more closer to Punjabi, so yes, it can be used.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
I think Punjabis (Pakistani) as a whole have some inferiority complex, they want to be different as compared to Punjabis across the border. Hence if you ask any one they will say they are descendants of X,Y, Z and have no connection to the people across the border. Secondly the Punjabi elite has always been quick to learn foreign languages to land jobs, like Persian during moghul rule and English during British rule. These two were completely foreign languages, as far as Urdu is concerned its still not a foreign language per se. Anyways, after the partition the ruling elite was "Urdu Speaking" and Urdu which was the language of the minority was named as the national language.
Politically if we see Punjab didnt have any role till Zia (late 70's) and I am not really sure if Zia himself was a Punjabi or Urdu speaking. Effectively between 47 to 80's, Punjabis (middle class) had shunned their language in favour of Urdu to compete with the Urdu speaking elite ruling the country. The situation now is getting alarming, and if not checked in the future Punjabi will be eliminated from the Urban areas in a couple of generations.
For me losing rich language like Punjabi will lead the next generations into real inferiority complex. It would be real loss for Punjabi society, when its next generation could not know the language of its Sufi poets.
I see a little hope in Punjabi satellite channels, but when people avoid talking to their children in Punjabi, children will also not care about their ancestor's language.
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
I think Urdu script is more closer to Punjabi, so yes, it can be used.
When you say Sohniya in Punjabi, Urdu can't cater it.. Sindhi can :D
Re: Why Punjabi is not taught in Pakistani schools?
thank you...it was interesting to see that many alphabets...i think some sounds are specific to Sindhi...isn't it?
Punjabi does have it's own Script called Gurmukhi so it's just a matter of adoption by Pakaistani Punjabis...gurmukhi looks like Hindi.
Sindhi got some sounds, a non-Sindhi can't pronounce