Poets, writers oppose reported move to drop Pashto from curriculum

TIMERGARA: Poets and writers in Lower Dir on Saturday opposed a reported proposal to remove Pashto from the school curriculum and demanded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government make the language a compulsory subject up to Class 10.

The demand was made at a press conference at the District Press Club Timergara by senior poet and patron-in-chief of the Dir Pashto Literary Caravan, Syed Kifayat Yar Bukhari, along with the organisation’s president Tahir Altaf Sarhadi, general secretary Gul Muhammad Mahsoor, poet Ali Haider Kausar and other literary figures.

The speakers argued that mother-tongue education was an important feature of education systems in many countries and said regional languages had been accorded importance in other provinces. They maintained that previous provincial governments had introduced Pashto as a compulsory subject and claimed that the move had produced positive educational outcomes for students.

They urged the government and curriculum authorities to withdraw any decision aimed at removing Pashto from the primary school syllabus and instead make the language compulsory up to the matriculation level, saying this would help younger generations learn in their mother tongue.