AMU introduces mandatory Urdu course for undergraduates

Aligarh Muslim University has introduced a mandatory course in elementary Urdu for all undergraduate students from the current academic session.
"A mandatory course in elementary Urdu has been introduced from the current academic session. This has been done to popularise Urdu and help all AMU graduates, including non-Urdu speaking ones, to have minimum proficiency in the language," AMU registrar Group Captain (retd) Shahrukh Shamshad said.
The marks for Urdu in the first year of all undergraduate courses would be included in the aggregate of the first year marks, Shamshad said.
All undergraduate students will have the option to choose from three Urdu courses prescribed for different categories of students, he said.

An extra elementary Urdu course has been provided as an option for students who have not studied Urdu at any level or belong to distant states where Urdu and Hindi are not spoken, Shamshad said.
Foreign students will be provided with the option of a non-mother tongue Urdu course to teach them the basics of the language, he said.
The registrar said AMU has also decided to introduce teaching of languages like Chinese, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish at postgraduate level to equip students to work in the international arena.