The Experimental College's popular class in the Hindi/Urdu languages is making a return appearance this semester after an intensive effort from members of the South Asian Political Action Committee (SAPAC) to find a new instructor.
"Conversational Hindi/Urdu" is offered this semester, and SAPAC hopes to implement a program in Hindi/Urdu I, II, and III as part of its goal to incorporate Hindi/Urdu into the University's curriculum.
"South Asia needs to get attention," SAPAC head Sucharita Kuchibholta said. "It is starting to emerge as an influential part of the world."
The class had to be modified because instructor Sarwat Khan was not qualified to teach written Hindi and Urdu. Khan will teach only the spoken language. An attempt is being made to bring the full program back in the fall, and the University is advertising for a teacher.
"Last semester we didn't have much time," Kuchibholta said. "This semester we are better prepared. There are already a few candidates."
Kuchibholta said that having a class teach conversational Hindu and Urdu instead of Hindi/Urdu I this semester works out well. If the first class were being offered this semester, the second would be taught next fall, excluding incoming freshmen. While written Hindi and Urdu are very different, Kuchibholta said that they are similar when spoken.
The class filled up quickly despite a late announcement by the Ex College, which does not fund the course. Instead, Khan' s salary is covered by the provost's discretionary fund.
"We were able to finalize the whole process just before classes began," Ex College Director Robyn Gittleman said. "The class filled up the first day of registration."
"It's going really well and there are a lot of people in the class," said Nadia Samadani, a member of SAPAC who lobbied Tufts to reinstate the course.
If the popularity of Hindi/Urdu classes continues, SAPAC's efforts to make them a permanent departmental offering will be strengthened. "Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic all started through the Experimental College," Gittleman said. "Once they were proven to be stable and other classes could fill the language requirement, they were moved to the language department."
The attempt to create Hindi/Urdu classes began two years ago and resulted in the Hindi/Urdu I and II classes taught last fall and spring, respectively. The courses were cancelled for last semester after lecturer Sumil Sharma was unable to return to Tufts.
Students in the Hindi/Urdu I and II classes last year were upset when the program was discontinued because they had hoped to take the third level and use the credits to fulfill the University's languages requirement. But Gittleman said that students were never told the Hindi/Urdu language classes could be used for the requirement. Since the bulletin does not list Hindi/Urdu among the courses that fulfill the requirement, requests to count the Ex College classes would have to be approved by the Tufts administration.
Kuchibholta said the cancellation of the classes last semester came as a surprise. She visited the Ex College two weeks before classes began and found that Sharma was not available to teach the class this year and that no replacement professor had been found.
Gittleman said that the list of classes offered in the fall had been posted on the Internet earlier in the summer. Yet Kuchibholta felt that clearer communication could have given SAPAC the chance to assist in finding a replacement instructor.
Hindi is the main language of Hindus in India. Urdu is the primary language of Muslims in neighboring Pakistan. And although there are other languages spoken on the Sub-Continent, SAPAC members felt that Hindi/Urdu represent the largest portion of the South-Asian community at Tufts.
