Studying Persian as compulsory subject

Pakistan and Iran are not close just geographically but also have many religious, cultural and linguistic similarities, the Iranian Ambassador Mehdi-e-Honar Doost said at a seminar on the “Cultural and Linguistic Commonalities between Iran and Pakistan”.

The seminar was hosted by the National University of Modern Languages (Numl).

The Iranian envoy said that Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan after independence and that Pakistan was the first country to recognise Iran after the revolution.

Scholar Dr Talib Hussein Sial said there were many similarities between Iran and Pakistan and that some researchers had concluded that Urdu, Sindhi, Balochi and Pashto include words from Persian. He added that much of Sufi literature was also in the Persian language.

Untill 1985, Persian was taught as a compulsory language in Pakistan, Dr Sial said, and said the government should make learning Persian compulsory again. He said that in order to revive moral values in the present and future generations, it was important to tell them about our rich culture, which cannot be achieved without making Persian a compulsory language to learn.

He requested the Iranian government to play its role in promoting Persian in Pakistan and offer scholarships to students of the language.

“Pakistan and Iran have had a close relationship, and I hope it will be the same in the future”, Director General NUML Riaz Ahmed Gondal said.

Also attending the seminar were Cultural Counsellor Iran Shahabud Din Daraie, Director Institute of Persian Studies Islamabad Essa Karim, head of the Department of Persian Dr Mahr Noor Mohammad Khan, scholars from both Pakistan and Iran, guests and students.

English language programme

The Counsellor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy Jeffery Sexton welcomed 200 new students from the Sir Syed Public School in Rawalpindi to the English Access Micro Scholarship Program.

The students, aged between 13 and 16, will participate in a two-year program for developing their English language skills. The program will improve their educational and employment prospects.

“English in the language of opportunity in the twenty-first century”, Sexton told students, adding that knowing the English language will help them in their future work lives, “no matter what the job you choose”.

Sir Syed Public School has already participated in two such programs from 2007 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2014.

Alumni of the program, Syeda Urooj Haider, also spoke to the students and praised the commitment of the teachers in the program.

“Access teachers do a great job”, she said.

“They support you and motivate you. I thank my teachers for their continuous support”, she added.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2016