LAHORE – Hundreds of people from different walks of life on Wednesday staged a protest rally in Lahore demanding the government to add Punjabi as compulsory subject in curriculum from class one.
Besides dozens of organizations including Punjabi Parchar and Punjab National Party Pakistan, people from lawyer community, teachers, students, Punjab poets and other activists also participated in the rally.
Protesters said that the national languages are taught in all the three provinces of Pakistan but Punjab is the only province where Punjab language was not taught to students.
Ahmad Raza, the chief organizer of the rally and president of Punjab Parchar and Punjab National Part, called for using the Punjabi language as mode of teaching in schools, adding that Constitution of Pakistan ensures that right.
He highlighted that Unesco resolutions also stress on teaching students in mother languages.
Raza said that Supreme Court of Pakistan and Lahore High Court have given rulings for teaching Punjabi to students.
Shagufta Gimmen, the chairman of Gimme TV, all the way came from England to join the rally. She said that Punjab should promote poetry and work of Punjabi scholars.
Punjabi poet Baba Najmi also enthralled the audience with his poetry.
