Who will study languages without job guarantee: Hyderabad high court

HYDERABAD: Raising an alarm over certain languages staring at extinction due to the dwindling number of takers for such courses in varsities, the Hyderabad High Court on Monday asked the registrars of Andhra University (AU) and Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) to furnish details about the status of language courses like Telugu, Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English offered by them.
The bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi gave this direction while hearing two PILs filed by Syed Rahmathullah and Sheik Khader Hussain challenging the removal of courses like Persian, Urdu and Arabic as well as the shifting of their teachers to other wings like law.
Observing that unless the study of languages is made attractive enough for students, the bench said the number of those preferring to study languages would dwindle further, leading to their extinction. “Who will take up the study of languages if such an effort does not promise any employment at all?” the bench asked.
“Parents generally do not encourage children to take up such specialised study of languages. Languages like Sanskrit have already become irrelevant today. Governments must make these languages attractive with the promise of employment,” said the bench.
The bench sought affidavits from the registrars of these two varsities with details of language courses being offered by them, the number of students enrolled, the number of teachers, among others.
The AU counsel told HC that no one had sought admissions into Urdu course since 2014, while SVU counsel said only five to eight admissions are witnessed in Urdu per year which is why they are shifting Urdu teachers to other subjects. “Furnish the details of posts granted department wise, the teachers shifted to other wings etc,” the bench said, posting the case for next Monday.