Welcome to the Premiere Episode of Brampton Focus ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi), an online show which brings to light local issues facing the citizens of Brampton and the Punjabi community. The show is hosted by acclaimed journalist Shameel Jasvir, formerly of Omni Television. All shows will be available for free at BramptonFocus.com.
The number of Punjabi students registered in Peel District School Board
(PDSB) is on the rise and many are making great strides in English and French language proficiency. Many in the community however are concerned that more and more of these students are losing the ability to read and write their ancestral language.
Since 1990, PDSB has provided an international languages program which exposes students to 30 different languages. This year, there has been an 11% decline in students registered in the program which teaches Punjabi. This is happening while other communities are seeing growth in enrolment in languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit and others.
Host Shameel Jasvir is joined by Harkirat Singh, PDSB School Trustee and Gurnam Singh Dhillon, a PDSB teacher. They discuss the reasons for the decline in enrolment as well as what the long-term effects of our Punjabi youth growing up without fluency in the language.
