Ghulam Ali Allana (academic)

Allana was schooled in his village, Mirpur Bathoro, Tando Muhammad Khan and then Karachi. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1953 and a Master of Arts in Sindhi from the University of Sindh in 1955. In 1962, he was awarded scholarship for study abroad and did a Master of Arts in linguistics at SOAS, University of London. He did PhD from the University of Sindh in 1971 under the supervision of Allama Ghulam Mustafa Qasmi. He was the first person to complete a PhD at the university.

He was appointed as a teacher at Training College for men, then, lecturer in Sindhi at City College Hyderabad. He was appointed as a lecturer at University of Sindh in 1958. He was given additional charge as assistant director of Institute of Sindhology in 1963 and held the position till 1983. Besides, he was lecturer in Sindhi Department in University of Sindh since 1977. For the development of Institute of Sindhology, Mr. Allana did untiring efforts. From 9 August 1983 to 18 April 1989 he cherished the seat of a Vice-chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad.[2] He became Vice Chancellor of Sindh University in 1993. Government of Sindh made him chairman of Sindhi Language Authority[3] Hyderabad in 1998. He has been on different high posts of educational and literary organizations of country and abroad.[4]

Allana started his literary career by writing Afsana (short stories). He also tried poetry using the pen name "Nashad" and, in 1952, he wrote a novel titled Lash.[5]

He published Sindhi Dictionary, Idea maker of Encyclopedia Sindhiana, a project f Sindhi Language Authority. He has written 40 books and sixty Research papers other countless write ups on Languages and Dialectics as well as on teaching methodologies.[6][7] His written work has been published in various newspapers and magazines.[8]

In 1993 he was honored with Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Government of Sindh.