Language mess.

Byline: Faisal Bari

SOME provinces use the provincial/regional language as the medium of instruction in the early years. Others use Urdu or English, or a mix of both. Urdu and English are also taught as languages. Both are considered important. The only debate about them pertains to whether English should be introduced in the curriculum, if it is not the medium of instruction. Some argue English should come in from the start like Urdu, others that English should be introduced in Class 6, after a child has developed competence in her mother tongue and Urdu.

So, our language policy is a mess. We have not worked out a plan for what languages we want to teach our children, what languages we want to teach them in and when and how we want to teach these languages. Our policy confuses the medium-of-instruction debate with the language-acquisition debate. Making the medium of instruction Urdu or English does not mean the student will, while learning other subjects, learn the language that is being used. The child will probably not learn the language nor understand the subject being taught in that language. If we want to teach science in English, the child has to know English before she can learn science in that language. To expect the child to learn the language while studying science in English is to put her and her teachers on the path of difficulty and failure.

There are some things that are quite clear from research literature on education. Children learn best if they are taught in the language they understand. It is obvious but needs to be emphasised. For the early years, this might be the language children use at home. In Pakistan, this usually means the regional or local language or dialect. Children can pick up and learn a number of languages. If we want children to learn Urdu and English, there is no harm in teaching these as subjects. But the medium of instruction in the early years and till children are comfortable in other languages has to be their mother tongue.

It is also clear, from empirical literature on parental preferences in Pakistan, that most parents, not surprisingly, want their children to be comfortable in both Urdu and English. Both are seen as languages for social and economic mobility. English, especially, is considered very important for economic and social advancement. Empirical literature on mobility does bear out that parental perceptions about the importance of languages, and English in particular, are not...