Different regimes have been heard with tall promises of bringing true reforms in the education system of Pakistan. But reforms in our education system have always been one step forward and two step backward. In 2013, when the ruling PTI Govt came into power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it introduced English medium in almost all state-run schools. All the text books of the lower classes were converted from Urdu to English. The decision was, no doubted, taken with this aim to make the state-run schools’ environment parallel to the private ones. Why? Because in Pakistan, this is a catastrophe that English is regarded as the yardstick of measuring the mental capacity of a student.
In our education system, there are several factors that have been affecting the studies of students of almost all level among which curriculum courses being in English is on the top of the list.
Ensuring quality education have only one way to make it possible with, that is to impart knowledge to one in his/her mother tongue. Of course, this is an undeniable fact and has been widely acknowledged that any country cannot move ahead until imparting education in mother tongue is ensured in it. It is also said that true learning and inculcating something is possible in one’s own mother tongue.
If we take the example of China, it had gained its freedom later two years than our country but they are years forward than us in different walks of life. One of the factors behind their success is that they are not producing philologists but there the students are taught in their mother tongue. As well as not a single example can be provided of developed countries where other languages are that much preferred as in our country. Likewise, in the U.S students do learn French and Latin etc but there whole curriculum courses are never converted into Latin and French etc.
Contrary to this, reviewing the system of Pakistan’s education, if one think for a moment, before the independence the people of Indo-Pak suffered at the hands of the British and after the independence their language (English) has been ruling on us being 7 decades elapsed of the independence of the Pakistan. There have a number of movements been run by many people in order to alter this system and to promote the idea of imparting education in mother tongue, but by bad luck all they went waste.
Contrary to this, reviewing the system of Pakistan’s education, if one think for a moment, before the independence the people of Indo-Pak suffered at the hands of the British and after the independence their language (English) has been ruling on us being 7 decades elapsed of the independence of the Pakistan
We have been hearing this phrase for many years that thousands of kids are out of school but it wonders that why nobody dare to say that those who are in schools; they suffer with the effects of a broken education system! A student first have to focus on learning English then he/she may learn something further. A report said that Pakistani students of specifically state-run schools can barely read a sentence. The reason behind this is nothing else but English language that has been made mandatory and all the courses of primary level are in English which students find difficult to learn and is like an obstacle between the students and true learning.
If Quality education and real learning is needed then students must be imparted knowledge in their mother tongue. Students don’t gain the exact idea or knowledge in the right way as how they may gain in their mother tongue. There is nothing bad to English nor I oppose it as I myself had English as my major subject in my academics but how can this fact be brushed aside that true learning is merely possible in mother tongue.
The top priority to English language in our country is either aimed to keep the students away from quality education or just to limit the learning of students to learn English?
We, too, can’t ignore the scope of English language as it is an international language, but promoting the idea of education in mother tongue is the need of hour.
The writer is a columnist and have slight glossophillia. Writer can be reached [email protected]