Hyderabad: A symposium on ‘Preservation of Urdu in Telangana’ was held on Saturday, January 25, here which was presided by Tehreek Muslim Shabban (TMS) President, Mohammed Mushtaq Malik. Discussing the current state as well as the future of the Urdu language in the state, participants spoke expressed concerns over how Urdu is being taught in schools and how.
Prominent figures like Dr. Qutubuddin Quadri, a psychiatrist, and Aziz Pasha, former ex-Rajya Sabha MP, were also called in as special guests. The discussion commenced with Dr. Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez, chief editor of Urdu newspaper Gawah, praised the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for recommending instruction in the student’s mother tongue till grade 5.
He then further went on to highlight the fact that parents today choose not to get admission in Urdu medium schools and many schools do not offer Urdu as an option anymore. “The reason was a lack of qualified teaching staff. Urdu medium schools operated by Anjuman-I-Islam in Maharashtra’s students are even getting recognition at international platforms,” Dr Parvez added.
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He pointed out that the new cricketer Yashasvi Jaiswal studied from an Urdu medium school and he is making records for the country, proving that if we provide quality education, then students will fare well in every competition.
Speakers like Mohammed Abdul Aziz, Telangana President of Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ) and Iqbal Ahmed, a well known columnist, linked the deterioration of the language with regression of the people who speak it. Aziz alleged the ‘burning’ of Osmania University’s Darul Tarjuma as a conspiracy to decelerate the progress of Urdu and its speakers while Iqbal Ahmed pointed out that Urdu as of now holds no practical use in a person’s life.
“Urdu is the second official language of the state but what are its legal implications? Can you file an FIR in Urdu? Can you file an affidavit with the High court in Urdu?,” he asked, while urging the Urdu Academy to undertake the task of publishing books aligned with the academic curriculum to ensure students build a strong foundation in the language.
He brought up how destroying a language’s link with livelihood is the fastest way to kill the language because when people see no future in it, they automatically give up on it. Other speakers, like Miskeen Ahmed, known for his Mushairas, also brought up how Urdu is nowhere to be found on signboards, government offices, schools or even RTC buses.
The meet concluded with a vote for forming a long term committee that would plan for the preservation and progress of Urdu language in the state.
