The British Columbia Association for Punjabi Language Education(A.P.L.E.) claims that the provincial government and school boards are discriminating against students who want to learn Punjabi, Sadhu Binning from the A.P.L.E. States that: “It is important that an education system recognize all language programs equitably. The Ministry of Education provides Curriculum and financial support for French, German, Spanish, Latin, Japanese and Mandarin Language programs, there is no provincial curriculum or funding for Punjabi. This is an example of system barrier.
The Ministry of Education statistics for 199293 indicate that 2.25% of the students in B.C. schools speak Punjabi as a primary language in the home. The top three primary languages spoken include English, Chinese and Punjabi.
Given this significant number of Punjabi speaking students, currently there is not one Punjabi course offered during the regular school day. A meting 10 promote the offering of Punjabi in the public schools will take place on December 12 at 12360 Cambie Rd. at the East Richmond Community Center from 2:00 p.m., to 5:00 p.m.
For more info please contact: Inder Mehat at 5313289 or Balwinder Brar at 5998715.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 10, 1993
