KARACHI: The high-powered committee appointed by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi, to survey Urdu teaching in the City schools and colleges has prepared a list of 40 educational institutions for its sample survey. Dr Abul Lais Siddiqui, Chairman, Department of Urdu, Karachi University, and a member of the committee, told “Dawn” that the committee will pay visits to these selected institutions and examine books and other materials there, the difficulties and problems being faced by the teachers and the students with regard to switching over to Urdu.

He said the committee was appointed by the Board to investigate the possible difficulties of those who will have to accept Urdu as medium of instruction from 1967 — the date for complete switchover — and to suggest ways and means to remove the difficulties. It was decided by the Board that from 1967 onwards there will be just one medium and uniform syllabus in Urdu. At present, confusion prevails as some schools and colleges are still continuing with English as the medium of instructions.

Dr Lais also said that they there more than 250 secondary schools and intermediate colleges in the City and it was not possible for the committee to visit each one of them.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014