Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — "The children's literature in Urdu language is the need of hour. Without it, children will become alien to their own language and culture," said Dr. Kalim Zia in an interview to Saudi Gazette recently. Zia, an educationist and a writer from Mumbai, was in the Kingdom for Umrah. Zia, born on March 4, 1956 in Malkapur, District of Buldana, Maharashtra, holds a D. Ed, B.A., and M.A. in Urdu, Persian and Arabic. He came to Bombay (Mumbai) after matriculation and completed his doctorate (PhD) in Urdu language. He taught in Hashmiyah School's primary section, a 150-year-old institution, while completing his higher education. As a primary teacher, during an essay competition, Zia, the youngest contender, secured first position. The main feature of this competition was that many well-known literary figures too had contested in it. "I am a self-made man. I had a humble beginning; however, I retired as the head of Urdu Department in Ismail Yusuf College in Mumbai. Eleven research scholars have completed their research under my guidance," Zia added. "I have published 20 books in Urdu language. Most of them deal with the needs of children. If we don't wake up in time our young generation would go astray. As the children need guidance of their parents, besides they need the guidance of the teachers, writers and poets too. The writers and poets should perform this sacred duty," he said. "For multi-dimensional progress, our children need to know Urdu language. Our religious and cultural values have been preserved in Urdu literature and poetry. If we don't care for children at the primary level, we would not get good research scholars at higher level. ‘Catch them young,' the famous idiom, is the most ideal in this regard. I translated many stories from English, Hindi and Marathi for children. In our era, unfortunately, we only have a handful of writers and poets who devote their literary career for our children," Zia elucidated. "In Urdu poetry, for our children Nazir Akbarabadi's poems are best. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Afsar Merathi and many other writers and poets have done a great job in creating literature for our children. We must be grateful to them. Our parents and teachers taught us that poetry at primary level. "Nowadays, most of the children's magazines are commercial. If the publishers need readers, they should keep the price low. The parents should encourage their children to read books and magazines. For it, Urdu should be taught at the primary level at any cost," he said. "Maharashtra is the only state which has best Urdu medium schools. Our syllabus suffices the need of our students. We get every kind of support from the provincial government to run our Urdu medium schools satisfactorily," he said, while answering a question on the state of Urdu schools in his home state. "The film industry and TV's role in making Urdu language popular cannot be ignored. I, as a supporting artist in Indian films, have observed it myself," Zia said.
