‘No plans to make Urdu compulsory’

Government is taking steps to promote Urdu language but has no plans to make it compulsory in school education, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said government is taking a number of steps to promote Urdu which is a great language and all other languages.

“There is no proposal to make urdu compulsory in schools,” the Minister said in a written reply.

He said the major objective of three language formula is to promote language harmony and equality among languages in school education by making provision for the study of three languages. He said ahead of the new national education policy, Urdu books have been readily provided from classes 1 to 12 and training of urdu teachers are also being carried out.

Javadekar said textbooks for B.Ed courses are also being developed and new urdu books being readied. “It is not connected any particular community, it is an issue connected to a language,” he said, adding that steps are being taken to further promote the language. He also said that government taking steps to fill up vacancies of teachers.