Far away from Urdu in the literate city, a record decrease in admissions in the Department of Urdu at the University of Karachi

As a language, the increasing lack of interest of the native speakers and citizens in the education of Urdu is creating new records. The number of students in the admissions of the Urdu department has not crossed the ‘double digit’ now.

According to the data of the admissions given in the BS and Masters program in the Department of Urdu of the University of Karachi, the number of students enrolled in the bachelors program here has decreased by 50% compared to last year. Similarly, in the third year (old Master’s program), these admissions have reduced by about 75% compared to last year.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned situation was previously occurring in other fields of linguistics, while the English and Urdu fields were a little safe from this decline, but this wave of decline in the education of linguistics has now engulfed the Urdu field as well. Being an international language, the department of English is currently safe from this wave.

It is noteworthy that in the present era of commercialism, the ratio of admissions in other fields of linguistics was not surprising. The aversion of the students from learning Urdu in Madar Ulmi (Karachi University) has sounded an alarm for the thinkers.

The distance between the Urdu language spoken in different sections of the society and the cultural elite had already revealed a clear difference in the speech of the two sections, now this difference has made the situation serious in the educational field as well.

According to the official data received by Express in this regard, only 7 students have been admitted in the third year (old master’s program) of the Urdu department in the new session 2024 that started recently in the University of Karachi and in the bachelor’s program. Only 45 students have been admitted, a first in available history.

When the lack of interest of the students in Bachelors and Masters program in Urdu has come to the above mentioned level, in the last session 2023 admissions, there were 25 admissions in the third year program in the Urdu Department of Karachi University and 109 admissions in the Bachelors program.

In the Urdu department of University of Karachi, in the last session 2022, there were 15 admissions for the third year and 180 admissions for bachelors. In comparison, admissions to Bachelors Program (BS) have also decreased by 75% in the last three years.

Express contacted the vice chancellor of the University of Karachi, Prof. Dr. Khalid Iraqi, and inquired about the reason for this situation. He said that there are many factors behind this situation. That the tendency of the students is towards those regulations where after graduation they are immediately connected to an institution for their employment, which we call (job oriented) departments.

The Vice-Chancellor further explained his point and said that there is another important reason and that is that there is a gap between our intellectuals and students. Not doing what it was a few decades ago.

He said that when writers and students had cultural relations and academic connections, there were big movements and Urdu language played a role in it, but now we do not see poets or writers of this style who teach the language to the youth. And call to literature.

The vice chancellor of the University of Karachi concluded the conversation and said that an Urdu conference is held in a year, but it seems that the recommendations and resolutions of this conference are only a part of the document, while a common man or student is far from it.

It should be noted that the number of students in other departments of Linguistics in the University of Karachi is also decreasing and the graph of admissions in the identity of Muslims or the language of the Qur’an, ‘Arabic’ and the language of Sindh, ‘Sindhi’, is falling. For the current session 2024, there are 9 admissions in bachelors program and 1 admission in third year.

It should be remembered that in the last year session 2023, 14 students were admitted to BS in the Arabic department and 3 in the third year. There are 2 admissions in Bachelors program in Year Department Bengali and none in 3rd year.

Last year, there were 1/1 admissions in BS and 3rd year in Bengali department, 2 admissions in BS program in Persian department and 3 admissions in 3rd year, while 4 admissions in BS program of Persian department and 2 admissions in 3rd year. were done

“Express” contacted the well-known poet and writer Dr. Hilal Naqvi on this apparent decline of social sciences, linguistics and especially Urdu language. They open the windows of the mind but we don’t want to open the windows of the mind, we want money and wealth and for that we have to get a job and not study Urdu.

Dr Hilal Naqvi said that this is a serious problem, our individual or collective economy is taking us towards banking or pharmacy and the day is not far when these sectors will shrink to a few rooms of a building.

He said that now students are not studying chemistry and biochemistry in this manner or in such numbers, but this problem is only in our countries or countries like ours, while in developed countries there is equal emphasis on social sciences as well as scientific sciences. .

On a question, Dr. Naqvi said that if a parent goes to the girl’s house with their son’s relationship and tells them that the son has done MA in Urdu, then the girl’s parents will wonder what to do.

Quoting a famous British philosopher, Bertrandsall, he said that when the leaves of a tree start to deteriorate and the beauty declines, we climb the tree and try to treat it, but we do not treat the roots.

On the other hand, the data obtained from the English Department of the University of Karachi shows that in the current session 2024, 81 students have enrolled in the BS program and 23 in the third year, while in the last year 2023, 75 students have enrolled in the BS program and 48 in the third year. were done

It is to be remembered that due to Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) ending the Masters program in universities across the country and replacing it with the third year, admissions have decreased in almost all the departments of the universities, but the departments of linguistics have decreased. This trend has come with extreme intensity and has now engulfed the Urdu department as well.