Srinagar: A three- day workshop on Kashmiri Script organised by the Department of Kashmiri, Government College for Women, M A Road, Srinagar from 8th November, 2021 concluded here on Wednesday.
Former Chairman, Markaz-i Noor, Centre for Shaikh-ul Aalam Studies, University of Kashmir, Prof. Basher Bashir was the resource person for the workshop.
Besides equipping the participants with the skill of reading Kashmiri and writing in it, the resource person stressed on the need to study Kashmiri in newer contexts, create interdisciplinary linkages between Kashmiri and Philosophy, Linguistics and Social Sciences, undertake new research and translation projects.
The resource person also reflected on the opportunities that New Education Policy 2020 throws open for Kashmiri both in school education and higher education.
Earlier, Principal of the college, Dr. Nasreen Aman congratulated the Department of Kashmiri for organizing the workshop and expressed gratitude to the resource person for agreeing to teach the participants Kashmiri script, and exposing them to the history, structure and exceptionality of the script. Dr. Nasreen encouraged Department of Kashmiri to undertake more such activities.
In her inaugural address, Head, Department of Kashmiri, Dr Nusrat Jan, stressed on the centrality of mother tongue to effective learning, critical thinking and cultural identity while noting the importance and inevitability of multilingual education. She cited latest research to show how mastery over one’s first language enables language users to pick up other languages more quickly and effectively.
Dr Masood A Malik, Head, Department of Functional English presented a welcome address that fore grounded the significance of this workshop.
In the valedictory session, certificates were distributed among the participants of the workshop. Dr Firdous A Parray presented vote of thanks.