SWAT: Linguists and educationists on Tuesday appreciated the efforts of the Private School Management Association Swat for introducing Pashto as a compulsory subject in all private schools across the district.

The announcement was made during a ceremony in Kabal here where Awami National Party MPA Nisar Baz was present as the chief guest.

Attendees included MNA Dr Amjad Ali Khan, Kabal tehsil council chairman Saeed Khan,PSMA Swat president Zafar Shilmani, Prof Attaur Rehman, Attaullah Jan and Hanif Qais, principals, teachers, educationists, youth activists, and students. The event also featured a Pashto poetry recital session.

The speakers emphasised the importance of the mother tongue in education and said conceptual learning was best achieved in one’s native language.

Linguists underscore importance of mother tongue in education

They added that the United Nations Charter declared that every child had the fundamental rights to receive primary education in their mother tongue.

PSMA leader Zafar Shilmani said he recognised the importance of the mother tongue and believed that a child learned best in their own language, so it had been decided to introduce Pashto as a compulsory subject in all private schools in Swat.

They quoted Pakhtun leader Bacha Khan as saying, “Whoever curses their own language will be cursed, and whoever loses their language will be forgotten.”

They added that the mother tongue was the language taught in a mother’s lap and in which everyone spoke first words, thought, and communicated effectively.”

MPA Nisar Baz reaffirmed the ANP’s commitment to promoting regional languages in schools and said that during the ANP government, a committee called the Regional Languages Authority was formed to make mother tongues a compulsory part of the curriculum.

He said at that time, the committee prepared a curriculum for regional languages up to grade 12, but unfortunately, it became inactive during the PTI government, and its decisions were not implemented.

Mr Baz said that he raised the issue inMNA Dr Amjad Ali highlighted the alarming situation of indigenous languages worldwide and said 40 per cent of the more than 6,700 languages spoken globally were threatened with extinction due to a lack of speakers.

“Only those nations that provide education in their mother tongue have truly progressed,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024