CIS-A2K/Work plan July 2015 - June 2016/Urdu WEP

This project aims to roll out Wikipedia Educational Programme aimed at the students of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. In addition to this University, the project seeks to explore other avenues of reaching out to the Urdu-speaking population of Hyderabad and seek their cooperation on Urdu Wikipedia projects.

CIS-A2K

CIS-A2K (Centre for Internet and Society - Access to Knowledge) is a campaign to promote the fundamental principles of justice, freedom, and economic development. It deals with issues like copyrights, patents and trademarks, which are an important part of the digital landscape.
If you have a general proposal/suggestion for Access to Knowledge team you can write on the discussion page. If you have appreciations or feedback on our work, please share it on feedback page.

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Work plan July 2015 - June 2016

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About the project

Among all the cities in India, Hyderabad has significant track of Urdu learning and Urdu medium educational institutions. The H. E. H. Nizam VII Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan was very much interested to reframe the educational policies for the betterment of needy person and to promote Education from root level to Higher Education in all the faculties on par with the foreign countries. Since Urdu was the lingua franca and the official language, Osmania University was established in 1918 and had Urdu as the medium of instruction for its faculties during the the Nizam rule. ^[1]

According to a survey carried out by AP Urdu Academy, there are 131 govt. Urdu primary schools in the city. The details of the Urdu education in the schools of Hyderabad are as follows:^[2]

Level	Boys	Girls	Total
Primary	8,366	13,533	21,899
Upper Primary and High Schools	66,321	79,361	1,44,682

(Source: Compiled from the AP Directorate of School Education data and Urdu Academy Survey)

As against 131 schools, the degree and postgraduate level education in Urdu is offered by the following in Hyderabad:

Maulana Azad National Urdu University is the only university in Hyderabad and India to offer the widest range of courses in both regular and distance mode through Urdu medium. In this context it is far ahead of all universities in India. It has hundreds of students on its rolls.

Leading Urdu newspapers such as Siasat, Etemad and Munsif are published from Hyderabad. Because of these factors the city has been chosen for the current project.

Work done so far: First Urdu Wikipedia workshop

Maulana Azad National Urdu University hosted the first Urdu Wikipedia Workshop in its campus in association with the Access to Knowledge Program, Centre for Internet and Society on 4 March 2013 - this was the first Urdu Wikipedia Workshop anywhere around the world. The event was initiated by Prof. Zafaruddin, Head, Department of Translation Studies. It was attended by 28 participants comprising students pursuing MA, M Phil and Ph D courses. The participants learned and practised the editing basics of the Wikipedia. Prof. Zafaruddin emphasised that the department desires to see all the students contributing to the Urdu Wikipedia and hence this event has been organised.

Implementation plan

This is how we hope to implement our plansê

Potential Courses with instructions in Urdu: M A (Translation, Urdu, Political Science, Womens’ Studies and Islamic Studies), Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Communication & Journalism (MCJ).
According to Prof Zafaruddin, the translation studies students are more familiar with Unicode typing than the students of other departments. They are more adept in translating the text from English to Urdu or vice-versa, hence they represent a dedicated group for Urdu Wikipedia contributions.
During the course of the Wikipedia Workshop, many translation students stressed on the need for further workshops and meetups.
The total number of students enrolled in the Translation Department involving MA, M Phil and Ph D is 32.
Based on the discussion with the Head of the Deparment, fresh intake of 15-30 students is likely in June 2014.
Some of the students pursuing M Phil and Ph D are employed with the electronic media / press can be supportive in getting media coverage for the events as well as for reaching out to other interested students.

Project execution

Urdu Wikipedia Video Production: Urdu University has its own production facility. An Urdu Wikipedia video tutorial similar to Christ University Hindi Videos can be planned and worked out.
Reaching out to Urdu TV Channels: Urdu Wikipedia Workshop evoked interest by the electronic media especially ETV Urdu and Ruby Channel. A series of Wikipedia educational programmes can be possibly planned after consulting the channels.
Press: Two of the leading local Urdu newspapers Etemad and Siasat have stressed on the need for technological innovation as a necessity for survival of languages in the contemporary world. They had also highlighted the growing role of Wikipedia.Their collaboration can be sought in terms of:

a) having a periodic column (weekly / fortnightly)

b) events - either organized by the newspaper or utilizing the newspaper office space for the same.

Other Institutions of Higher Learning: Maulana Azad National Urdu University has recognized Al-Mahad Al-Aali's graduated students as qualified for admissions to its Master’s programmes. Mahad also has its own research programmes which require students graduating from other religious schools. The students are also required to come up with thoroughly researched articles on various topics. A Wikipedia programme can possibly be rolled out here where the research training received by the students could result in contributing quality articles on Urdu Wikipedia. Similar exercise can be planned for other Urdu or Urdu-related institutions in Hyderabad.

Projected outcomes

To initially target an increase of 150-200 good articles.
To increase the number of editors by from the core project :40-50 and equal number from other (40-50) from other educational institution targeted - making the total targeted tally to about 100.
To enlist the number of 10-20 active editors
To aim for video tutorials production for Urdu Wikipedia under aegis of Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
To aim for Televised sessions on Urdu Wikipedia by the Urdu TV Channels.
Regular periodic newspaper columns for Urdu Wikipedia.

Budget

Expenditure Item	FDC Support (INR)	FDC Support (US$)	Other Sources and in kind Support (INR)	Other Sources and in kind Support (US$)
1 PO x 15% *	99,000/-	1,599.84	-	-
1 PD x 5% **	79,200/-	1,279.87	40,800/-	659.33
Travel and Stay ***	110,000/-	1,777.60
Volunteer Support	55,000/-	888.80
Events/Meet-ups/Workshops	100,000/-	1,616.00	55,000/-	888.80
Consumables/Printing/Stationery/Swag	20,000/-	323.20	20,000/-	323.20
Miscellaneous	10,000/-	161.60	-	-
Total	473,200/-	7,646.91	115,800/-	1,871.33

Notes:
* 25% time of Tanveer Hasan as Program Officer who will anchor this plan at CIS-A2K
** 5% time of the Program Director, CIS-A2K
*** Expenses incurred by the CIS-A2K program team towards executing the plan

Endorsements

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Reference

[1] ttp://www.osmania.ac.in/ArtsCollege/urdu.html

[2] ttp://www.twocircles.net/2012jul04/dying_urdu_education_hyderabad.html

[1]

[2]