A 70-day Urdu course. That’s what the Bihar government is offering to help promote the state’s second official language, Urdu.

The online certification course, which will begin on October 13, is meant for state government employees, a letter by SM Parvez Alam, the additional secretary-cum-director of the Cabinet Secretariat Department, said to all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, secretaries, district magistrates, and other department heads on September 8.

The 2-hour course will be held from 01:00 pm to 03:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, for 70 days, excluding public holidays, the letter said. An exam will be held at the end of it, and successful candidates will be awarded an Urdu Learning Certificate.

This is in line with the state’s aim of expanding free Urdu-speaking and writing courses across Patna and various district centres, and comes months after the Bihar government announced Urdu translators.

‘It [the letter] is to say that for teaching non-Urdu speaking officers and employees working in all departments and all regional offices of the State Government to read and write Urdu (Second Official Language of the State) online, ‘Urdu Training / Learning Centre’ is run under Urdu Directorate, Cabinet Secretariat Department,” the letter said.

“There will be more online and offline Urdu learning courses,” Minority Welfare Minister Zama Khan told . “Right from Urdu learning courses to fresh appointments of Urdu translators, the state government is committed to providing a level playing field to all communities.”

A senior government official said that while the Directorate of Urdu has had Urdu training programmes from time to time, this is the first time online training is being offered to a larger number of government employees.

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The directorate had run a 60-day residential training course in 2018–19.

Urdu was declared Bihar’s second official language in 1981 — the first state in the country to do so. Since then, all government notifications and district gazettes are issued in both Hindi and Urdu.

The state’s Muslim population is 17 percent.

In March, the state government announced the appointment of 2,000 Urdu translators. The appointments will be processed through the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC).