AMIDST THE row over the status of Punjabi language subject which was proposed to put in the category of ability enhancement courses (AEC) from the compulsory subject, Vice Chancellor of Panjab University (PU) Prof Renu Vig Wednesday clarified that Punjabi language will remain to be a compulsory subject for all the six semesters under the National Education Policy, 2020. A confusion had emerged after people, including certain PU faculty members, student leaders and even politicians had claimed that the stature of Punjabi language is being reduced and the university is planning to remove Punjabi as a compulsory subject under the New Education Policy (NEP). Vig said, “Nothing has changed. Punjabi language is still a compulsory subject in graduation. The confusion emerged as the Punjabi language subject was put under the category of Ability Enhancement Courses (AEC), which has other subjects too. Now, we have put Punjabi under the category of compulsory subjects, as it was earlier. It had been decided that the minor course upon the adoption of the NEP will be Punjabi. A wrong perception was built that Punjabi has become a minor subject.” Sources said Vig also held an informal meeting with the chairperson of the Department of Punjabi language, Sarabjit Singh, on this issue on Wednesday. The matter will also be discussed in the coming PU Senate Meeting scheduled to be held on June 3. Sarabjit Singh said, “Punjabi will remain to be a compulsory subject in graduation. Students, who studied Punjabi language up to Classes 10 and 12 will take Punjabi language as a compulsory subject. The stature of the language cannot be changed. Besides Panjab University, there are two other universities in the state — Punjabi University, Patiala and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. In both these universities, Punjabi is a compulsory subject. Then how can PU differ from these two universities?" Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP, Vikramjit Sahney Tuesday shot off a letter to Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankar, who is also the chancellor of PU, over the issue. In his letter, Sahney said that the PU syndicate took an arbitrary decision to make Punjabi a minor subject. “As a result, its teaching will be limited to two semesters only with two credits,” he had claimed. Former Punjab Education Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema too had expressed his reservation on social media against including Punjabi as an ability enhancement course.
