Despite having a rich history and importance, the Arabic and the Persian literature are slowly dying out in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) colleges.
According to an official source, some colleges have suspended their Arabic and Persian courses, asking the teachers of these subjects to teach other subjects in which they were not specialized.
The future of the Arabic and Persian languages in ICT colleges was ambiguous and uncertain, the source said.
Some teachers were of the view that both the Arabic and Persian literature had lost support and patronage of the relevant authorities, hence the popularity of these subjects among the young people was declining.
They urged the authorities at Federal Directorate of Education to take steps for the promotion of Arabic and Persian literature.
A professor on the condition of anonymity said, “The subject of Persian has been suspended at Islamabad Model College for Girls I-8/3 due to unavailability of subject teacher while Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 did not offer the admission in the subjects of Arabic and Persian in this session despite the availability of teachers.
Tasnim Akhter Mir, an Associate Professor of Persian at Islamabad Model College for Girls G-10/4, termed Persian a must to understand Allama Iqbal’s message.
She said, “Persian literature is about history, psychology, philosophy, languages, sociology and theology. No one can deny its importance. Persian remained a language of administration and high culture across the subcontinent and played a role very similar to the one English does today”.
Referring to the glorious period of Persian in the subcontinent, during which valuable literature was produced, she said that it was a pity that they kept themselves away from the vast treasure of the literature.”
Dr Nazir Ahmed Bhutta of Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 said, “Students are deserting Arabic and Persian literature in droves. They don’t want to leave with a qualification that will not guarantee them a well-paid job. Decline of literature is the failure of the authorities to maintain the legacy of Arabic and Persian. Efforts should be made to rescue these important subjects in ICT colleges.”
Another female teacher mentioned that even in the Cambridge system, literature of different languages was being taught, including Urdu.
“However, in our colleges not only Persion and Arabic but history and philosophy subjects are also being ignored.
“Even in the education system of France, all the subjects of Science and Arts are taught to the students till Intermediate level while philosophy is being taught there as a compulsory subject.
“We are actually depriving our students from various opportunities in the future by limiting the scope of literature which has great significance”, she said.
Dr Rahima Rehman, President of the Federal Government College Teachers Association said, “In some colleges, teachers of Persian and Arabic are teaching those subjects in which they are not specialized.
“This is a disaster for the humanities. The decline in the teaching of Arabic and Persian should worry policy makers. If it continues, we could be seeing further deterioration of arts and humanities in colleges. If these courses close, brilliant literary teachers will be at risk of losing their job,” she said
