Twenty-two principals of 24 Urdu medium schools in Delhi ignorant of Urdu
In Delhi there are 24 Urdu medium schools under the Delhi government and the same number of principals but sadly enough, as many as 22 of them do not know any Urdu at all. In addition to this, the number of teachers employed in these schools is almost half as compared to other schools and most of them too are ignorant of Urdu but they have been appointed in Urdu medium schools. In view of these bitter facts how it can be expected that Urdu will be promoted in Delhi and how much truth and sincerity is there in Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit’s claims, which she always makes at any function of Urdu or of Muslims that her government is serious about the promotion of Urdu in Delhi in spite of the fact that Urdu along with Punjabi was made the second official language of Delhi about a decade ago?
The other aspect of this sad condition is that Delhi Urdu Academy, which also is a government-funded institution, in addition to its own specific job of promoting Urdu, holding seminars and conferences, giving financial assistance to needy Urdu authors etc. and assisting in publication of their books, giving awards to famous Urdu litterateurs etc. is also made responsible for monitoring the progress of Urdu. If its members visit Urdu medium schools and see the conditions prevailing there, they can very well take up these matters (appointment of non Urdu-knowing principals, teachers, employees etc. in Urdu schools) with concerned government authorities like Director of Education, Zonal directors, education officers, education minister, chief minister etc. and ask them in clear words why such teachers and principals are appointed in Urdu medium schools and also put pressure on them for appointing Urdu knowing people conditions can be improved. They should convince and make them realize that if improvement of educational conditions is not made and standards of these schools are not raised, the doubt and suspicion in the minds of sincere Urdu lovers that appointments of non-Urdu knowing principals and teachers in these schools are the preparing grounds for eliminating Urdu from Urdu medium schools will turn out to be true.
Responsible officers of milli and social organisations like Ayaz Mahmood, convener of Anjuman Urdu Dost Conference, Alimuddin Asa’di, general secretary of Anjuman Ta’mir-e Urdu, Hafiz Muhammad Shahzad, a social worker of Mata Sundary Road, Maulana Abdul Subhan, President of Altamash Khuddamul Hujjaj Committee etc. also expressed their views and said that Delhi Urdu Academy is a responsible institution but education officers and others in the ministry are taking undue advantage of discouraging Urdu because of the insensitivity and lack interest of Academy authorities. A delegation of the Academy should visit Urdu institutions, review the appointment of teachers and pressurize them that no non-Urdu knowing person (principal, teacher etc.) should be appointed in Urdu medium schools and that after the retirement of Urdu knowing teacher etc. only Urdu knowing persons should be appointed in their places. They also stated that when the job of Urdu Academy is to promote Urdu, its officers should regularly visit and review the conditions prevailing in Urdu medium schools, listen and understand the problems and difficulties of children and teachers of these schools and put pressure on the concerned officers in government to fulfill their needs like publication of Urdu books and appointment of Urdu teachers etc.
In view of the fact that these officers are not taking any steps in publication of Urdu books or appointing Urdu teachers deliberately, they should approach higher authorities and insist that these jobs or responsibilities may be given to either the Academy or NCPUL who should get Urdu books published and appoint qualified Urdu teachers themselves, within government rules of course.
Maulana Abdus Subhan said that many Urdu medium schools whose past used to be Urdu medium but because of the staff being unfamiliar with Urdu, they have lost their utility and identity. Zeenat Mahal School at Asif Ali Road is an example of this. This is only because of appointment of teachers not knowing Urdu. Those who claim to be representatives of Muslims or work for Urdu should seriously think about this and take practical steps to correct this system.
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