Pritam Singh pays birthday tribute to wife's project to teach Punjabi to children

The Workers' Party leader shared that he wants his daughter to learn both Mandarin and Punjabi.

Sulaiman Daud | April 16, 2021, 10:58 AM

Workers' Party Secretary-General Pritam Singh took to Instagram to pay tribute to his wife on her birthday, while also taking the opportunity to highlight the importance of learning multiple languages in a multi-ethnic country like Singapore.

On April 16, Singh shared an Instagram post about he and his wife Lovleen's experience with deciding which second language their children should take up in primary school.

He elaborated that for couples, particularly those who are minorities or inter-racial, the decision can be a struggle.

He wrote:

"Our older daughter takes Mandarin in kindergarten, and she seems to be getting on reasonably (gotta thank her teachers!) We hope she can continue with Mandarin for as long as possible because it is a such a useful language to be competent in. But there is also a part of us that wants our children to keep in touch with their mother tongue, Punjabi."

The Leader of the Opposition shared that it isn't easy making learning languages fun, especially for toddlers and children under five years of age.

However, his wife decided to share her experience and promote the teaching of Punjabi through an Instagram page, beebee.ji, which Pritam also shared in his post.

He concluded by wishing his wife a happy birthday, and highlighting her efforts:

"Happy Birthday dear wife! Just thought that the best way I can wish you is to recognize all that you do for our daughters (and hopefully, your@beebee.ji experiment will help other Punjabi parents out there too)!"

You can see the post below:

https://www.instagram.com/beebee.ji/

Top image from Pritam Singh's Instagram page. Image on the left taken before 2020 circuit breaker measures.