Saving Urdu for Urdu’s Sake
By Syed H. Abbas (Co-Founder, Urdu At Home)
It is no secret that interest in the Urdu language in both public and private schools has been steadily eroding for the past two decades. But, has anyone lately checked the content of the Urdu books that our children study in schools these days? I am not talking about the public schools or the mom and pop private schools. I am talking about the leading private school systems that are considered to be elite and a status symbol for many across the country.
The Urdu curriculum that is taught in most schools across Pakistan is not only outdated, it borders on the indoctrination of the students towards an ideology which historically has never been a part of the language. Every Urdu course book starting from grade one has religious content injected into it. The amount of content increases with every grade and by the time the child reach fourth grade it looks like an extension of Islamic studies. Each book starts with “Hamd” and “Naat” followed by stories about the holy prophets. The issue is not what’s in the content, which to be fair (in almost all cases) teaches something good. But, the issue is with the placement of this content in a language course.
Some might argue that since Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, it’s appropriate to have some Islamic content in our language books. This argument, at best, is a flimsy one, and it might have had some weight, if there was no other subject where Islamic studies were being taught. But, when there is a separate subject which teaches Islamic injunctions, there is absolutely no need to include any religious text in the Urdu language books that is studied by both Muslims and non Muslim children.
I teach my daughter about Islamic values by buying books on Islam and with the same token expect to buy Urdu books which teach about the language. I am all for teaching the ethical and moral lessons to the kids in the Urdu language books, but it can easily be done outside of the religious themes. In any case, there is a separate course on Islamic Studies where the lessons on ethics and moral values are already given, using examples from our religion.
There is something inherently and fundamentally wrong when we push a particular ideology or agenda on our young kids especially when you are teaching a language. By inserting text about religious themes we are in essence giving Urdu a status of a sacred language. In my view, it’s another way of saying, Urdu is just for the Muslims and non-Muslims are not welcome to study it.
How and when did this encroachment start, and who is responsible for all this? I think most of us all are old enough to remember how, when and why this practice started. It’s not that these books are published by government-run publishing houses or that they are just being taught in public schools in under- privileged neighborhoods. These books are published by the private publishing houses like Oxford University Press and are taught in the so-called elite private schools systems across the country.
The people who are sitting on Urdu text book boards have been there for decades. They have successfully hijacked this beautiful language for their beliefs and ideologies. We need to take notice and should not allow such people to associate Urdu with a religious ideology or philosophy otherwise I fear that there will not be another Prem Chand, Upendra Nath Ashk, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Firaq Gorakhpuri. Unfortunately, it seems that the great publishing houses and the so-called private school systems have also turned a blind eye to this growing tide.
The author lives in Silicon Valley, CA, USA and is the co-founder of www.urduathome.com.
