Obama admin grants USD 120 mn to University's Hindi, Urdu prog

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jun 2 (PTI) Indiana University's programme
for India studies, aimed at training high school students in
Hindi and Urdu, has received about USD 120 million from the
Obama administration.

The money has been granted to the University under the
'STARTALK Program' of the US government, which was started by
the previous administration of George W Bush, to increase the
foreign language proficiency of Americans in Arabic, Chinese,
Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Swahili and Urdu.

"Our goals are for the participating students to acquire
the linguistic and cultural competence to communicate
successfully in the language and obtain various learning
strategies and skills," said Sungok Hong, a lecturer and
Hindi-Urdu language coordinator in the India Studies Program.

"Students will have a deeper understanding of the
culture and learn the importance of culturally appropriate
behaviour," Sungok said.

Twenty students from the states of Indiana, Kentucky,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California and Hawaii have been
accepted for the Hindi and Urdu programme, the university said
in a statement.

The free summer intensive programme for Hindi and Urdu
provides the equivalent of one semester of university-level
instruction.

Between June 22 and July 17, students will meet in 20
hours of classes each week and participate in cultural
activities.

As part of the curriculum, they will go on field trips
to cultural sites and learn about the south Indian classical
dance Bharatnatyam, besides Carnatic music, yoga and popular
sports such as cricket and kabbadi. PTI LKJ
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