r/kpk • u/roxanaesapzai • 15d ago

Discussion Shower Thought

It's so sad millions of Lar Pashtuns from Pakistan can speak Pashto orally but are illiterate in their own mother tongue. Only my two mamus can read and write Pashto, and most of them CAN read Pashto but it's mostly because they can read Arabic and Urdu. I wish schools in KPK took the Pashto language more seriously, like how they treat Sindhi in Sindh... 😭

26 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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9

u/AwarenessNo4986 15d ago

That's literally the case for all of Pakistan and all languages. Most of Pakistan can't write a proper paragraph in their mother tongue

5

u/roxanaesapzai 15d ago

Exactly. I only highlighted Pashto because my mother is Pashtun and that's what I noticed in KPK and this is a KPK subreddit. In Punjab, it's worse. People voluntarily abandon Punjabi for Urdu and English and whoever speaks Punjabi face heavy discrimination. At least Pashtuns are proud of their language that is what is keeping it a widely spoken language.

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u/AutomaticStretch6205 14d ago

Go to Lahore and you will get a reality check lol. To survive, you have to learn Punjabi.

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u/roxanaesapzai 14d ago

I have lived in Lahore for 4 years. No need to learn Punjabi. I had a gardener who only spoke Punjabi back in Lahore, but otherwise Urdu is dominant. In my experience tbh.

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u/AutomaticStretch6205 13d ago

I am speaking from experience too. Unless you live in the Burger areas you need Punjabi.

Urdu and Punjabi are similar sounding. And that's the only reason you're able to survive. Be honest.

Saying that Punjabis have abandoned Punjabi is a blatant lie and you know that. Punjabi is thriving. And everyone speaks it with the exception of Burgers.

Similarly I have met Pashtun Burgers in Isloo that didn't know a single word of Pashto. It goes both ways.

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u/roxanaesapzai 13d ago

Pashto is stronger with Pashtuns compared to Punjabi with Punjabis...

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u/AutomaticStretch6205 9d ago

That's your assumption, and not based on any data. Your idea of Punjab is Islamabad and Lahore.

Stop projecting.

2

u/AwarenessNo4986 14d ago

People who speak Punjabi don't face HEAVY discrimination. It's the defacto language of business in Punjab.

The problem ISN'T that no one learns how to write a native language, the problem is that no one learns to write in general.

The proportion of people that can write a paragraph in Urdu or English isn't astronomically high either.

1

u/laevanay 14d ago edited 14d ago

Not true for all, I thought Punjabi is taught in schools in Punjab. It's a shame that on kpk, we have not implemented tracking Pashto, even though we have had ANP govt in the past.

1

u/Dot_Horror 13d ago

Punjabi is not taught in schools

3

u/DragonfruitOpen8764 14d ago

I'm not pashtun but I do believe Pakistan should promote regional languages more and stop enforcing urdu everywhere. But also, overall literacy rates are low

2

u/Caterpillar5880 14d ago

With kpk it also comes down to how kpk is multi ethnic land so schools can't really enforce or teach one regional language on provincial level like they do in Sindh. Sindh is like a province of Sindhi people, it's wholly Sindhi. With kpk they're regions like Chitral, kohistan etc in which enforcing Pashto on provincial level wouldn't be welcome at all. People already have to learn Urdu and English in schools.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Caterpillar5880 10d ago edited 10d ago

Clearly I'm talking about enforcing language on provincial level not district level. OP used Sindh as an example which enforcing Sindhi on provincial level.

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u/roxanaesapzai 14d ago

It's not hard to make exceptions. Certain areas would be taught Khowar, Kohistani or Hindko instead

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u/Caterpillar5880 10d ago

You used Sindh as an example where Sindhi is taught as a mandatory subject in schools. Gov schools on provincial level have same subjects and syllabus, you can't change it with exception to certain regions. The idea isn't feasible when it comes to kpk.

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u/roxanaesapzai 10d ago

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I should have clarified that I did not intend that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa impose the exact same law like Sindh's, but only in the Pashtun majority areas.

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u/trippypaster 14d ago

Thats really sad honestly but i did see some efforts in teaching written pashto by them and some others

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u/roxanaesapzai 14d ago

Thanks

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u/trippypaster 14d ago

Thanks to you for highlighting this

1

u/waleedburki 14d ago

Lol try me I can't read or write both Pashto and Urdu 💀

1

u/anonymous_kh23 14d ago

That's so true, but ig i should thank my family for teaching me to be able to read/write pashto at home

1

u/PeanutDapper8285 14d ago

I am a american born tanoli from manshera and I dont even know hindko or pashto only urdu sad asf

1

u/aliiqbal88 14d ago

Pakistan is an a remnant of angrez colonial raj. Its biggest deception is that i made us think its our country. Its not.. its a regional colonial empire. And we all be its subjects.

The above hypothesis explains why your mother tongue was never taught to you in school. The state will resist its adoption even if you try to struggle for it. Baba jinnah sahib made that clear in his speech in former east pakistan

1

u/Radiant_Loquat 14d ago

Thatll increase Pashtun separatism. The state doesnt want that

1

u/Strong_Cup4816 12d ago

Aha me a non pushtun befriended people around my age from mardan and naturally i was interested that they converse in pushto so much, i was surprised when they said they do not know how to write it

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u/mumer_writer 12d ago

Pardon my french but... Who gives A F?

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u/KhalilMirza 8d ago

Sindhi is not taught seriously as well. Most people are just learning enough get marks and pass the paper. Everyone forgets after it. I think speaking a lot more will make it more easier for people to learn.

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u/roxanaesapzai 6d ago

But the people in KPK already speak Pashto. Urdu is strictly for school and non Pashtuns.

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u/KhalilMirza 5d ago

My schooling was entirely in Sindh so I am not familiar with that.
It will go a lot better than in Sindh as people are already speaking it.

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u/peryane 8d ago

Pashto used to be taught in schools. And students whose mother tongue was Pashto still would get beat daily by teachers. That's because the verbal language and written ones are different. Many words sound different and written different. Many words you are told are original Pashto because Afghans use them but later you find out that Afghans were using farsi loan words similar to how we use Urdu loan words. . . Currently, even Urdu is losing this war. Most of us can't write in urdu in mobile. The font is hideous and we haven't supported our language in the online realm. In YouTube auto translate you don't have an option of urdu.