KARACHI: STB gears up for teaching of Sindhi in colleges
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 28: Following a government notification about compulsory teaching of Salees (simple) Sindhi to Urdu-speaking students in intermediate classes, the Sindh Textbook Board on Wednesday dusted off a manuscript prepared some eight years back, said sources in the education department.
It was learnt that like other concerned quarters, the STB was also taken by surprise by the Sindh Education department’s silent adopting of a notification of the federal education ministry’s curriculum wing.
Students of Science and Commerce faculties have from time to time been opposing the teaching of languages and social science subjects to them for different reasons.
It was learnt that the federal education curriculum wing in Aug 2005, acting on a letter from the Sindh Education department, had revised the scheme of studies at the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) level in connection with Urdu compulsory, carrying 200 marks, for the province of Sindh only.
Referring to the revision in question, the Sindh Education department on Sept 27 notified that Urdu-speaking students would be required to study Salees Sindhi, carrying 100 marks for the HSC exams, in class XI, with immediate effect. And, Urdu compulsory, now only carrying 100 marks, would be taught in Class XII.
Defending the decision, an official of the education department said it was an attempt to ensure homogeneity and a sense of coherence among students speaking different languages. Sindhi-speaking students in the province have been studying Salees Urdu in intermediate classes for long, he added.
When the official’s attention was drawn towards the matter that Sindhi teachers would be required in a large number in Karachi’s colleges, he said two to three Sindh-speaking teachers were already posted at a majority of colleges, and those could now be utilized for teaching Urdu Salees as well.
A senior college principal recalled that, in a meeting with a delegation of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association on June 12, the Sindh governor had issued directives for teaching Salees Sindhi to students up to intermediate level.
The latest move of the education department will surely pave the way for induction of Sindhi language teachers in colleges of Karachi and other parts of the province, he noted.
Talking to Dawn Prof Abdul Aziz Mehranvi, chairman of the STB, said he came to know about the government’s latest decision only through the media.
“However, I was relieved after checking the section concerned of the board that a manuscript for Salees Sindhi teaching had been developed in 1997 and was approved by the federal government curriculum wing in 1998, which was available with the board,” he said.
He also said that some private publishers had been assigned to print the new Sindhi book at the earliest so those could be marketed within a two-week time.
