The educational experts at a seminar have urged the government to formulate a legislation for making mother tongue a medium of instruction at the primary level, as it would ensure proper mental and intellectual growth of children. The seminar "Child Rights to Learning in Mother Tongue" was organised by DAAMAN, here on Saturday, in collaboration with Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). Several educational and linguistic experts invited from all across the country expressed their views regarding the importance of regional languages.
DAAMAN is an NGO, working to raise girls' status, to equal boys, by motivating parents.
The speakers were of the view that teaching in regional language will enhance the capability of the student to learn more quickly.
The experts recommended that Education ministry must cooperate with linguistic institutions to formulate legislation for the promotion of first language as medium of instruction as a child's right.
Some experts said that due to the influence of Indian TV channels, our children consider the regional languages as "language of illiterate people" so they are avoiding it.
Dr Inayatullah Khan from NWFP said that folk languages lost their vocabulary because there is no proper system for documentation of regional folklore.
According to him, electronic media is damaging the status of all regional languages because it portrays users of regional languages as illiterate.
Sardar Shah, linguistic expert from Sindh, informed the gathering that private sector institutions in the province are not giving importance to "Sindhi", which can become the root cause for downfall of the language, so the government must take the issue seriously.