Efforts to train children in Urdu calligraphy

Islamabad: Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) is making efforts to impart training and educate students in Urdu calligraphy.

A prominent artist Azeem Iqbal told APP that calligraphy in Urdu script is considered an art form. It is often used to write a verse or saying, or someone’s name or a title he said. He said that the images created by a calligrapher can be abstract shapes, or sometimes forms of objects or animals.

Azeem Iqbal said that the Urdu writing system is so different letters join together to form a sequence of Urdu characters occurring without space. The alphabet is highly context sensitive; each letter is written in a different form based on whether it is placed in the beginning, middle or end of a word, or if it occurs in isolated form by itself he said. He said that many of the letters share a common base form but they differ by diacritical marks placed either above or below them. Master in calligraphy art invited by PNCA to demonstrate their skills and teach to children during summer art camp. Azeem Iqbal highly appreciated PNCA for organizing special programmes to promote Urdu Calligraphy among the students of various educational institutions in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

He said that such programmes would benefit the students and they will become prominent Calligrapher of the country. He said that such programmes should be organized on provincial and district level for the students to promote Urdu Calligraphy.