Need stressed to digitise Sindhi books, newspapers

Move will help promote, preserve the language

HYDERABAD:

The language and information technology experts have underlined the need of digitising the books and newspapers of Sindhi language to make them accessible to all using the internet as well as to preserve them.

They were speaking at the ITC Talent Show, 2023, which was organised at Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, on Monday, in collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Karachi, and Students Teacher Engagement Programme (STEP) of SAU.

"We are going through a period of competition in which we are behind the world in the realms of education, development, culture, and technology," Sindhi Language Authority (SLA) Chairman Dr Ishaq Samejo observed.

He lamented that the province's youth have been constantly losing interest in reading books or in acquiring knowledge of their mother tongue. "In the future, only those languages will survive whose content could be accessed online."

SAU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Marri asked the students to adopt the revolutionary changes being introduced in the field of information technology. He noted that the world is rapidly switching to harnessing the artificial intelligence (AI) whose application for Sindhi language's preservation and wider usage is also necessary.

Syed Azfar Hassan, Project Director of the National Occupation Centre Hyderabad, highlighted the vast opportunities in the IT sector which can also be availed by the SAU students.

The faculty members Dr Aijaz Ali Khoonharo, Dr Mir Sajjad Talpur, Dr Jam Ghulam Murtaza Sahito and Dr Muhammad Yaqoob Koondhar also spoke on the occasion.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2023.