Pakistan Province Adds Pashto To Curriculum

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

you are a one great liar. Pashto was compulsory upto primary level in governament schools. I have myself studied pashto upto 5th class.

You are right in most of govt; schools they used to taught pashto along with other pashto medium books to boys while girls were taught urdu medium books and they had to study Home economics in place of Pashto.....so gulapa that means it wasn't a compulsory subject at all because if it was the one then why would it be taught only to boys???????
Also in higher classes there was a choice between Pashto and Arabic and then Pashto/Drawing........i myself studied drawing for a while but later I was compelled for a subject change......
Khoo daa pakhwa woo che kala ta' halak/zankey wey now you are an old man...........
now a days pashto isn't taught in govt; schools at all,,,,,,,au bya staso da ilaaqey kho maata pata da che somra pukhto wayley kegee pakey.....i will post the last year demand of Textbooks submitted by EDO's of each district if i got the file.......bya warta gora che somra pukhto books demand shwee dey ..........

[Yousafzai Pakhtun]

wrora manana,i am from swabi and i studied all subjects in pashtu at primary level except urdu and english years ago.

Now is it compulsory subject in all parts of pashtunkhwa or just pashtun distts?
also it is realy important to make it compulsory in pvt schools.
The great bacha khan baba and pashtun hero like khoshal baba and rahman baba also should be included.
We support the govt on this issue and it is great to make it compulsory..

It will be made compulsory in pashtun dominated areas but in regions like peshawar urban, abbottabad, kohistan etc other languages like Hindko, Kahwar, kohistani etc will be taught instead of pashto........
and yea the new textbooks are passing through development proceses.....Lessons on Ghani Khan, Bacha Khan, Faqir of Ipi, etc have been included in the text......while Rehman baba and KKK were already there........

[KingKhan]

Does Peshawer residents speak/understand Pashtun?

I also thought that Peshawer, was a predominately Pashtun city?

[Toramana]

Does Peshawer residents speak/understand Pashtun?

I also thought that Peshawer, was a predominately Pashtun city?

Hi KingKhan, Peshawar is a Pashtun city ... Three-four decades back, there was non-Pashtun domination in Peshawar (Hindko-speaking) but with the arrival of Afghans in 1980s and rural Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa throughout (at least) the second half of the 20th Century, the demography of that city has completely changed. Now according to the population census of 1998, the population of Peshawar is 80+ percent Pashto-speaking.


Amost all new localities and townships like Afghan Colony, Hayatabad, University Town, Rahatabad, Professor Colony, Canal Town, Tajabad, Shaheen town, etc. are almost exclusively Pashtuns. Hindko-speakers are still there but in the interior city where their numbers have been further diluted due to the incursion of and acquisition of property by Pashtuns in the locallities that were tradionally Hindko-speakers. This in a way is unfortunate as well because the rich internal city culture of Hindko-speaking people has now a diminished status but Pashtuns also didn't have any other option.

The Hindko-speaking people have also become bilingual and have intermarried heavily with Pashtuns. Many of the old Hindko-speakers were in reality Afghans that had migrated from Afghanistan since the time of Ahmad Shah Baba and during the later Afghan rule. Initially resentful because of the pressure from Pashtuns in business and politics etc. now they have adopted to the new situation and become a part of the cultural life of that city.

Pashto is almost the exclusive language of interaction in Peshawar now. The provincial govt has decided to adopt Hindko as a language of preliminary education but that is one of the two options (other being Pashto) just to give an opportunity to Hindko-speakers to get education in their language.

The demographic situation is such that I don't think it would be possible for all students even in schools in tradionally Hindko-speaking localities to be Hindko-speakers (rather the majority of students even in schools in traditionally Hindko-speaking localities will be Pashto speaker).

On the contrary, it is certain that most of the schools in Peshawar city will have entirely Pashto-speaking student populations.

[Toramana]

KingKhan see the following link.

Peshawar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

some excerpts.

"Peshawar emerged as a centre of both Hindko and Pashtun intellectuals. Its dominant culture for much of British rule was that of the Hindko speakers, also referred to as "Khaarian" ('city dwellers' in Pashto). Its unique culture, distinct from the surrounding Pashtun areas, led to the city being romanticised by Pashto singers, with songs like larsha Pekhwar tha (go to Peshawar) and more recently Pekhawar kho pekhawar dhay kana (Peshawar is Peshawar after all). This unique culture has gradually disappeared with the massive influx of Afghan refugees and the increasing migration of Pashtuns into the city. The demographics has changed quite dramatically and Pashto is now the dominant language of the city."

"During the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan, Peshawar served as a political centre for the Inter-Services Intelligence-trained mujahideen groups, and housed Afghan refugees at the Jalozai refugee camp. There were a total of about 100,000 Afghan refugees reported in Peshawar during the 1988 election when Benazir Bhutto was running for Prime Minister of Pakistan.Peshawar managed to assimilate many of the ethnic Pashtun Afghans with relative ease and many of them still remain in Pakistan.

Peshawar continues to be a city that links Pakistan with Afghanistan as well as Central Asia, and has emerged as an important regional city in Pakistan. It remains a focal point for Pashtun culture. Today, like the surrounding region, it is at the crossroads of the struggle between the extremist Taliban and moderates, liberals and Pashtun nationalists...."

"Peshawar's inhabitants consist mainly of Pashtun people with Hindkowans as the minority group. In addition, thousands of Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Persians, Panjabis, Chitralis and Gypsies can be found in the city. Languages such as Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Khowar, Dari, Hindko, Saraiki and Punjabi are spoken in Peshawar..."

[KingKhan]

@Tormana

i always thought hindkowans were the original inhabitants of peshawar and the descendents of Gandaharan civilization. You say they came during the time of Ahmad shah baba, what makes you say that?

Not to hijack this thread

I thought that Hindko's, Dards and Pashtuns have ancestortial ties to Ghandara? That being said they really isn't much different between those 3.

[Toramana]

@Tormana

i always thought hindkowans were the original inhabitants of peshawar and the descendents of Gandaharan civilization. You say they came during the time of Ahmad shah baba, what makes you say that?

I said many Afghans migrated during Ahmad Shah Baba reign and times of later rulers to Peshawar and assimilated into Hindkowanans. For example, the ancestors of the drama actor Firdous Jamal were from Kandahar. Similarly, Sardar Khel of Peshawar came from Afghanistan. Kakars whom Sardar Abdur Rab Nishthar and General Wahid Kakar (ex-army chief of Pakistan) hailed from are other examples. They live in Muhallah Kakaran (Kakar street) and speak Hindko as the first language (but actually are Kakars). This is not just limited to Pashtuns. Many Persian/Dari speakers from Afghanistan also settled in Peshawar and adopted Hindko e.g. Qazalbash of Peshawar (as well others like Tajaks, Uzbaks, etc.). Mahjabeen Qazalbash the Pashto singer is actually a Qazalbash.

I have met many Hindko-speakers or persons bilingual in Hindko and Pashto claiming to have come from Afghanistan. I have seen in such people a love for interior city culture as well as a strong sense of Pashtun identity.


As for Gandhara, I don't think descendents of Gandhara civilization got concentrated in Peshawar alone. Most likely, they were dispersed throughout KP to be assimilated into Pashtuns after Khakhis and Ghoria Khel moved from Afghanistan into Peshawar Valley (some 600 years back). Many Hindkowanans came with British and earlier rulers as camp followers of military troops as well.

[Toramana]

Below are the population proportions by mother tongue according to 1998 population census of Pakistan. In 2011, Pashtun proportion might have risen to 85%-90% due to migration of Pashtuns to Peshawar city from rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Peshawar Division Urban (i.e., only Peshawar city)

Urdu - 61,112 (4.36%)
Punjabi - 78,037 (5.56%)
Sindhi - 1,500 (0.11%)
Pashto - 1,117,585 (79.67% almost 80%)
Balochi - 385 (0.03%)
Seraiki - 4,504 (0.32%)
Others - 139,574 (9.95% includes Hindko speakers)

Peshawar Division Rural (excluding Peshawar city)

Urdu - 7,600
Punjabi - 8,080
Sindhi - 435
Pashto - 2,422,668 (96.4%)
Balochi - 233
Seraiki - 3,524
Others - 7,0618

[Laila]

That is great news. But why only until the 6th grade? is that till primary grades are completed.

[Shlombay]

this isnt official this is just a proposal and its informal so far.