KHYBER: The district chapter of Malgari Ustazan has demanded of the provincial government to include Pashto in compulsory subjects of all the public and private educational institutions prior to the start of new academic session.

Gulab Din Afridi, district president of Malgari Ustazan, said in a statement that education in mother language was the constitutional right of every student. He added that Pakhtun students were deprived of the constitutional right by successive governments.

He said that provincial government had also refused to obey the court orders about declaring Pashto a compulsory subject and thus was liable to legal proceedings for defying court orders.

Mr Afridi said that students in most parts of the province in general and merged districts in particular were forced to learn languages other than their mother tongue to understand their textbooks. He said that they would continue their struggle for making Pashto a compulsory subject in syllabus of educational institutions.

Bahadar Khan, a local educationist, also supported the demand of Magari Ustazan and said that it would help to improve the learning skills of Pashto speaking students.

He said that every mother language had its own importance and Pashto should also be given due importance in imparting education to youth.

Mr Khan said that a lot of time of students was wasted in getting education in a language other than their mother tongue. “It is very necessary that the court order about declaring Pashto a compulsory subject in schools should be immediately implemented,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2024