Introduce Kashmiri in Schools

A Petition imploring the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to implement the decision made by the previous government in November 2000 to introduce the native languages of the State as compulsory subjects in both government and private schools.

We,

The People and the Civil Society of the State of Jammu and Kashmir,

In presenting this Petition to the Government of that State,

Urge and Call Upon the Government to afford our concerns the highest consideration, and to implement the decision of November 2000 introducing our native languages in schools.

1. In the November of 2000, the Jammu and Kashmir Government adopted a decision to introduce Kashmiri and other native languages in all the schools of the state, whether state-run or privately run. This decision was a historic and momentous one for these languages. The Kashmiri language has been the vehicle through which Kashmiris have expressed their culture and their values from times immemorial. It was through Kashmiri that the great saints of Kashmir - Lalla Ded and Nundrishi - communicated their message to the great masses of Kashmir. When the Kashmiri people were suffering under tyrannical rule before 1947, it was the Kashmiri language that provided the channel through which the voices of progress and communal harmony found expression. It is of the utmost importance to preserve the cultural heritage of which Kashmiri language is the bearer. The decision to introduce Kashmiri in schools would go a long way towards promoting the Kashmiri language. Unfortunately, it appears that this decision has not been implemented, particularly in relation to private schools.

2. For a language to survive and flourish, it is essential that it be taught in schools. By teaching our native languages in schools, we will guarantee the emergence of an educated community that is literate in Kashmiri and other native languages. By keeping Kashmiri out of schools we are unwittingly implementing a process of language loss and language shift, with the result that Kashmir is slowly but steadily disappearing, especially among the elites in Srinagar. Among these people, children are no longer being taught Kashmiri at home but only Urdu/Hindi. These parents cannot be blamed - they are, after all, looking after the interests of their children. However, what is to be blamed is the educational policy that relegates the mother tongues to the undignified status of spoken slangs by keeping them out of schools. Had our native languages been taught in schools (and thereby opened up vistas of employment) our parents would have an incentive to teach their children to speak Kashmiri and other native languages such as Pahari, Gojri, Shina, Ladakhi or Dogri.

3. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation has issued many recommendations in relation to the place of native languages in education. In its official policy guideline, "Education in a Multilingual World" the UNESCO recommends that children be at least taught their mother tongue as a second language subject. The best medium of instruction at the primary stage, in the opinion of UNESCO, is the mother tongue. This fact has been confirmed by many educational psychologists and the preponderance of received scientific opinion on the matter is unanimously in favour of teaching children through their mother tongue. As the UNESCO guidelines say at page 14:

"It is an obvious yet not generally recognized truism that learning in a language which is not ones own provides a double set of challenges, not only is there the challenge of learning a new language but also that of learning new knowledge contained in that language. These challenges may be further exacerbated in the case of certain groups that are already in situations of educational risk or stress such as illiterates, minorities and refugees ... Studies have shown that, in many cases, instruction in the mother tongue is beneficial to language competencies in the first language, achievement in other subject areas, and second language learning."

Hence, the Guidelines make it clear that in order to achieve competence in learning knowledge for the first time and, indeed, to learn a second language, it is important to impart instruction to children in their mother tongue. The problem with teaching students in a language other than their mother tongue is that they begin to see the school as an alien, frightening place. On the other hand, when they are taught in their mother tongue, the school is seen as an extension of the home. This facilitates the educational process by making the classroom atmosphere more congenial to the student and encouraging him or her to treat learning as enjoyable and not as a punishment or burden.

4. Learning one's mother tongue does not mean that one cannot learn other languages which are of importance to one's future career. On the contrary, it is only when a student learns his or her mother tongue that he or she is able to gain proficiency in other languages. The reason why the standard of Urdu and English is so low in Kashmir is because students are not taught their mother tongue first in school before they move on to learn these languages. In most countries of Europe, students learn their mother tongue first, then go on to learn two major European languages. Thus, in Holland, students study in Dutch first, then take up English, and then French. By doing their learning of languages in the right order, i.e. beginning with the mother tongue, these students are able to master all three languages satisfactorily. Research conducted under the auspices of the UNICEF proves this (UNICEF Staff Working Paper). A research study conducted by S. Mehrotra in 1998 concluded:

There is much research which shows that students learn to read more quickly when taught in their mother tongue. Second, students who have learned to read in their mother tongue learn to read in a second language more quickly than do those who are first taught to read in the second language. Third, in terms of academic learning skills as well, students taught to read in their mother tongue acquire such skills more quickly.

5. Scientific opinion, therefore, endorses the teaching of elementary school students in their mother tongue as the best way to prepare students for learning other languages. Not only does it ensure that these students have a greater chance of academic success, it also paves the way for their learning second and third languages much more effectively and smoothly. Teaching Kashmiri and other native languages, therefore, would not only come as a much-needed fillip for these languages but would also allow students to achieve competence in Urdu and English more easily. Students would learn these languages at the secondary stage as well as keeping up their study of the mother tongue. They would be able to read and write all three languages, and their ability to read and write their mother tongue would work wonders for the native languages of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, it would also lead to a flowering of Urdu since there are many synergies between our native languages and Urdu. Many of the greatest poets and writers in Kashmiri and other native languages have also been poets and writers in Urdu. Teaching the mother tongues together with Urdu would result in a cross-fertilisation between these languages, thus boosting the cultural output of our State. It would add considerably to the cultural capital that we have inherited from past generations, so that we can ourselves bequeath it to our younger generations, who can look back on us with an eye of gratitude.

6. In addition to specific policy guidelines issued by the International Organisations, there are also many international laws that have been enacted with a view to protecting and promoting the various languages of the world. These laws are binding on the State government and confer many rights on the people. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly by Resolution 44/25, provides in Article 29(1) that:
"States parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to ... (c) the development of respect for the child's own cultural identity, language and values..."
Our current education policy that excludes the native languages from the school singularly fails to inculcate respect for one's cultural identity and language in our children and is, thus, violative of this provision. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities adopted by the General Assembly pursuant to Resolution 47/135 provides in Article 4(3):
"States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue."

The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, adopted in Barcelona in 1996, confers a number of important rights on language communities throughout the world. The following rights apply to the situation in Kashmir:
Article 3(3) grants language communities the right "for their own language and culture to be taught", and the right "to receive attention in their own language from government bodies and in socio-economic relations."
Article 8 provides that all language communities "have the right to organise and manage their own resources so as to ensure the use of their language in all functions within society" and the right to "have at their disposal whatever means are necessary to ensure the transmission and continuity of their language."
Article 15 provides that "all language communities are entitled to the official use of their language within their territory."
Article 18 provides: "All language communities have the right for laws and other legal provisions which concern them to be published in the language specific to the territory."

The Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights realises the importance of education policy for the health of a language, and therefore requires state policy in education to respect the right of a language to survive and flourish:
Article 23(1) provides: "Education must help to maintain and develop the language spoken by the language community of the territory where it is provided."
Article 26 provides: "All language communities are entitled to an education which enables their members to acquire a full command of their own language."
Article 29 provides: "Everyone is entitled to receive an education in the language specific to the territory where s/he resides."
Article 50 provides: "All language communities have the right for their language to occupy a pre-eminent place in advertising, signs, external signposting and all other elements that make up the image of the country."

7. It is very regretful and unfortunate for the people of Jammu and Kashmir State that the Government of this State is in breach of these legally binding provisions of international law. The only way the Government can bring its educational policy in conformity with international law is by teaching Kashmiri, Dogri, Ladakhi and all the other native languages in schools as compulsory subjects. The policy of excluding these languages from schools is wreaking a terrible destructive process on them by creating irrational psychological complexes and language hierarchies whereby the speakers of these languages look down upon their mother tongues. The process of language shift that is happening in Jammu and Kashmir state daily is threatening to undermine the otherwise beautiful and colourful mosaic of our compose cultural heritage. Although languages like Kashmiri and Dogri are still firmly fixed, many languages, such as Pahari, Gojri, and Shina, are threatened with extinction because the speakers of these languages are abandoning their mother tongues in favour of other spoken languages. The only way this process of language shift and language death can be reversed is by teaching all the native languages of Jammu and Kashmir in schools. Already, Kashmiri has been introduced by the Government in 2001, and plans were underway to introduce all the other languages. Unfortunately, the determination and vision needed to implement these plans and to develop scripts and primers for all the other languages have fallen by the wayside, with the result that our languages are crying out for official attention and knocking on the doors of schools, seeking their rightful place in the curriculum.

8. It is with these considerations that we, the people and the civil society of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, beseech the Government to look into the merits of this petition, to give our grievances and arguments the highest consideration, and to take the bold step of securing the full and thorough implementing the decision of November 2000. We urge the Government to uphold the cultural plurality of our State, prevent its cultural richness from depletion and avert the cultural disaster that would ensue if our languages became extinct. We urge the Government to introduce Kashmiri, Dogri, Balti, Ladakhi, Shina, Pahari, Gojri and Punjabi - the bouquet of flowers that comprises our linguistic heritage - in schools as compulsory subjects.