Hyderabad: A person will absorb anything that is part of his environment. Therefore, to create a student-centric academic and creative atmosphere is the priority of the university. These thoughts were expressed by Prof. Aslam Parvaiz, vice chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University at the inaugural session of the three-day workshop “Urdu Creative Writing for Children,” which is organized by the Centre for Urdu Language, Literature and Culture (CULLC) in collaboration with Pratham Books – a prominent publishing house for children’s literature.
Chief Editor Pratham Books, Ms. Manisha Chaudhry, while explaining the purpose of the workshop said that to save ones language and culture it is important to promote children’s literature. Otherwise, we’ll lose hundreds of years’ worth of culture and wisdom contained in the stories in various languages of our country.
Dr. Shakeel Ahmed, Registrar, shared a personal experience of how a particularly dedicated school teacher in Aligarh who emphasized writing was instrumental in his growth as a student. He also assured all help from the administration in any future activity on similar lines.
Rajesh Khar, editor Pratham Books, gave a detailed description about the structure and functioning of Pratham Books. Ms. Mala Kumar, editor Pratham Books, involved the participants in a brief but interesting word exercise. Prof. Siddiqui Mohd. Mahmood presented a touching story, which was highly appreciated by the audience. Mr. Anees Ahsan Azmi, Chief Consultant, CULLC, conducted the programme. He also shared with audience the centre’s future plans to conduct similar creative programmes for the benefit of the students, the staff and even outsiders on regular basis. Dr. Firoz Alam, Assistant Professor, CULLC, presented the vote of thanks.
At the beginning of the programme, the students sang a poem Kitabian karti hain baatain (The books talk) by famous theatre personality late Safdar Hashmi. A large number of students and teachers, besides the workshop participants, attended the inaugural function.