Punjab govt makes Punjabi compulsory subject in all schools amid CBSE draft norms row

Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Wednesday said it has made Punjabi a mandatory subject in all schools across the state, regardless of their educational board affiliation, and asserted that education certificates will be considered null and void without Punjabi as a main subject.

The move came after the AAP government accused the BJP-led Centre and the CBSE of dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects for Class 10 in the new draft norms for biannual board exam format and dubbed it as a "well-planned conspiracy" against Punjab and Punjabi.

Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said his department has issued a fresh notification stating that Punjabi will be a main subject in Class 10 in the state and if Punjabi is not a main subject in any school, then the certificate will be considered null and void.

This will be applicable to all education boards in the state, he added.

Addressing the media here, Bains slammed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for allegedly dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects as he referred to its draft examination policy.

"It is a well-planned conspiracy against Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat," he alleged.

The minister said in the CBSE's draft norms, science, maths, social science, Hindi and English are the main subjects of Class 10. The regional and foreign languages are in one group while the rest of the subjects are in the other group, he said.

Bains further claimed that Punjabi was removed from the regional languages.

"It means Punjabi is not the main subject. The main regional language has been finished," he alleged.

They (Centre) kept foreign languages like Thai, German, French, etc., but they forgot to mention Punjabi, he said.

Asserting Punjabi is well-spoken language in many states, including Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, Bains said such an important language has great culture and history.

"Punjabi is not just a language; it is a symbol of our rich cultural heritage, spoken and cherished by millions across the country," he said, adding that the current situation was an attempt to erase Punjabi from the educational landscape.

Bains hit out at the Punjab BJP for terming this issue as a "clerical mistake".

"They played with the emotions of Punjab and rubbed salt into the wounds," he said.

Bains said he has written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking to know what action it will take for the "clerical mistake".

The minister said the state government issued a fresh notification with immediate effect whereby Punjabi will be the main subject for Class 10 under any education board in the state.

"If Punjabi is taught without being the main subject, then the certificate will be considered null and void," he said.

Bains further said the Punjab government will come out with a new education policy.

An expert committee in this regard will be formed, he added.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also strongly opposed the alleged removal of Punjabi from the regional language list by the CBSE for 10th and 12th standard students and demanded its immediate restoration.

In a statement released here, former education minister and senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking to see that the CBSE working under the Union government had "removed" Punjabi as a regional language option for the students.

He said that Punjabi had earlier been removed as a regional language option in Jammu and Kashmir also.

The SAD leader said Punjabi is a widely spoken language in the country.

Cheema said the removal of Punjabi as a regional language option amounted to discriminating against Punjabis settled in different states in India.

"It was very strange that the Centre was adopting such a discriminatory attitude towards Punjabi language," he said.