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First Gurmukhi course concludes
 By Ali Usman
LAHORE: The graduates of the first Gurmukhi Certificate Course were
awarded certificates on Wednesday after the completion of the course
at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAAC).
The Gurmukhi Learning Certificate Course – the first course of its
kind in Pakistan to teach the Gurmukhi script of Punjabi commenced
at the institute last month. Some 35 students were registered for
the course, of which 21 qualified the final examination. Gurmukhi is
the universal script used for writing Punjabi, and is quite close to
the Hindi script. In Pakistan, the Shahmukhi script (also called the
Persian script by some) is used for writing Punjabi.
The aim of the course was to equip the students with the basic
skills of Gurmukhi and making them able to read and write the
script. The course instructor was eminent Punjabi scholar Jameel
Paul. Speaking at the ceremony, Paul said Gurmukhi was the universal
script for writing Punjabi. He said there were around 100,000
Punjabi websites, and only two used the Shahmukhi script for the
language. He said by learning this script, the poetry of great Sufi
poets like Baba Fareed, Shah Hussain, Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah
could be written in Gurmukhi and the people living in Eastern Punjab
could learn about this rich Punjabi treasure. PILAAC Director Dr
Abbass Najmi said the institute would keep organising such courses
in future. Daily Times: Thursday May 21,2009
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