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All schools in
Punjab to teach Punjabi till 10th
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH:
The
Punjab Vidhan Sabha has unanimously decided that all the schools in
the state - affiliated with any board — will have to teach Punjabi
as a compulsory subject till matriculation.
In its last
sitting of the Budget session, the House in one voice also agreed on
strict disciplinary action against state government employees,
including bureaucrats, not using Punjabi in administrative working.
Education
Minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur said Punjabi was being taught as a
compulsory subject up to 10th in all private schools affiliated with
Punjab School Education Board. Even while granting no-objection
certificates to private schools for getting affiliation with CBSE
and ICSE, the state government imposed a condition that Punjabi
would be taught as a compulsory subject up to Matric. However, only
a law could make its implementation effective, she added, as in its
absence it would be difficult to impose a condition on schools
affiliated with CBSE and ICSE. “The government will amend the law
and introduce legal provisions under which it will be mandatory that
Punjabi becomes a compulsory subject in all schools till Class 10,”
she said, while moving a resolution on the issue.
 The 117-member
House arrived at these decisions after Congress MLA Ajit Inder Singh
Mofar moved a call attention notice and earlier in Question Hour
Ajit Singh Shant, an associate member of the Congress, raised a
question in this connection.
Mofar drew the
attention of Dr Kaur towards “resentment amongst people due to
non-implementation” of the Punjabi language in government offices.
As majority of members came out in support of the notice and when
Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon also advised the minister to move a
resolution, Dr Kaur immediately did so, saying the state language
should be compulsorily used in administrative functioning.
26
March 2008
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