No plans to make Urdu compulsory in school education: Prakash Javadekar

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

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.

The Minister said education is in the concurrent list and thus the states should also make efforts. The Centre on its part has provided Rs 62 crore to the National Council for promotion of Urdu languages in the last two years.

Javadekar also spelt out a host of schemes for promotion of Urdu in the country and steps to connect the language with activities that help provide employment opportunities.

He said a course of Urdu calligraphy, Urdu correspondence course and a DTP course were being introduced.

To a question related to developing Ranchi and Jamshedpur as educational hubs, Minister of State for HRD Mahendra Pandey said that government has sanctioned Rs 133 crore for various educational institutions in these two cities under Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha abhiyan scheme.

He also said the HRD ministry would work to build the building for IIM Ranchi in three years, once land is provided for it.

When it was asked whether the issue of taxes was part of the school syllabus, Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha said that NCERT textbooks at various stages carried such information.