Teaching in NSW mainstream schools since 1998, Ms Bansal has a passion for teaching Punjabi and dedicates one day of her weekend to teaching Punjabi in the Hills Sports High School at Seven Hills, the suburb which is known as the hub of Sydney's Punjabi community.
NSW government had introduced Punjabi to high school students in 2014 and Ms Bansal is teaching there since 2016.
‘I have high praise for my students as they spend five days in mainstream schools and then come on Saturdays especially to learn Punjabi. All of my students have been very responsive and have completed my assessment tasks with great enthusiasm’, Ms Bansal told SBS Punjabi.
‘This year’s results have been overwhelming’, shared Ms Bansal proudly.
‘Out of 12 students who took Punjabi in HSC this year, 3 attained band six (90+), 7 got band five (80+) and two got band four’.
‘It is becoming a global issue that students are falling behind in writing skills and it is same with Punjabi students. Overall progression of Punjabi in HSC students is par excellence. They learn and use Punjabi with full devotion."
"However there is a bit of concern that the number of students taking Punjabi in HSC has fallen drastically since its start in 2014 when 21 students had taken Punjabi in HSC."
"This year there were only 12 students. If this trend continues, then the government will have no other option than to stop teaching Punjabi in NSW schools."
Ms Bansal uses her vast teaching experience to craft interesting and unique strategies for her Punjabi students to imbibe a passion for the language.
‘One way of creating interest is to show students some clips of Punjabi movies and songs and then asking them about the things shown in those clips, about the culture and heritage picturized in the songs’.
Talking about available resources in Punjabi, Ms Bansal said, ‘I spend great amount of time in procuring Punjabi books and other material. Whenever I go to India, I bring heaps of related books from there’.
‘The Punjabi community needs to take this matter of teaching Punjabi to their wards very seriously. I hope the numbers would multiply quickly than falling like in previous years. More weekend Punjabi schools should start soon’, said concerned Daljit Kaur Bansal.
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