Full Literacy is no Magic Wand

Mr. Ejaz wants to make a solid point as he embarks on his journey to glorify the advantages of using one`s mother tongue as a medium of communication as he says. I am sorry to say that he does not do a good job in convincing me. What is it that Mr. Ejaz proposes? Would he like the schools and colleges in all the provinces change their communication medium to urdu? Urdu is our country`s mother tongue, but there is one trait in Pakistan that makes it hard for someone to say that, ``Historically, may it be Europe, Asia or South America, only those countries have attained higher literacy rates where mother tongues were/are used as the medium of instruction at the elementary and secondary level of schooling.`` (like Mr Ejaz has put it) and that is that the population of Pakistan does not have a common mother tongue. A significant percentage of people in Balochistan do not know urdu as well as their ``mother-tongues`` of Pashto, Balochi or Pharsi. You would find a few people in Sindh who do not know urdu as well as Sindhi. The list of languages people prefer to call their mother-tongues goes on in Pakistan. The English has English, the French has French, the Americans, most of them took on English, while you would still find so many who speak Spainish over there. Pakistan is not England, Pakistan is not the USA, Pakistan is not France, or Brazil, or Finland! Pakistan is Pakistan! History has shown us a solution to problems similar to ours, but the solution does not mix well with our own problems. There is one thing that I do agree with Mr. Ejaz on, we cannot however rely on raw education to raise the masses. I dont know what we really need (if I did then we would all be in a better situation), but whatever it is, it has to be a God-given miracle to set us right.

Language is learnt for the purposes of Economics, Culture or Religion. Determine the purpose and educate yourself in the said language.

The geographical economic environment has given way to global economic environment. What led to the success of people in the 60s and 70s does not hold true today.

Today in Canada, I know of anglophone families that send their children to be educated in French (from pre-primary schooling) because they want to be able to compete in all economic forums.

The question is, you can translate books into any mother tongue, but knowledge is not static but evolving. Since we do not have Phds we are not involved in serious research. This leads us to depend on those who do research and unfortuantely they use English. So until we shorten the stage where modern research is done in Urdu or for that matter any provincial language, let us not lose our focus.

We are past the point that we should have choosen Arabic as our national language (this would have helped us with jobs in Gulf Countries besides helping us to understand Quran).

Culturally, language is as sound as the person wanting to be associated with it. We speak Urdu even here in Canada, and that is not just at home but in the Office (my director is from the sub-continent). My love for music, leads me to hear the best from Pakistan (we are allowed to play CDs off our computer). Mind you I work for the Provincial Government.

Re Rehan Rizvi

hear! hear! Points well taken.

Re Manzur Ejaz.

Will keep it short as most interaction here has benefitted me very little.

Thanks for successfully bypassing all the points I raised in my last post, for conjuring up, out of thin air, a pro-Urdu/Urdu Medium stance by me, for directing our attention to AZaidi`s ``Well-researched`` theory and ignoring my not completely unresearched note about the sad end of the application of this theory in SL.

Re: Osama Ahmed

The point that I am stressing is that early education should be in the native regional language. For Karachi, that would be Urdu. Second languages are also best introduced at an early age. Seven is a fairly early age according to linguistic research, but it could be six. i don`t feel strongly about that.

Anita

``Memorizing Mir``: If these MPAs have gone through 14 years of Urdu Medium education, their only source of learning Urdu cannot be eighteenth century literature.

Superior Learning: So you have rarely come across parents who send their children to English medium schools for superior learning? Interesting. I have rarely come across a Pakistani parent who has intimated that the nearby Urdu-medium school is better than the English medium school (superior learning) but being status conscious Pajero-dreamers, they want their kid to go to the inferior English medium school.

``Social Engineering``: If my little reply is an attempt at Social Engineering, God knows what your article is all about. We all have hidden agenda. Mine may be national unity; yours something more worthwhile.

Ethnic divide: Yes, yes, of course there is no ethnic divide in any other province. That`s clear to every Pakistani: that only a small portion of Pakistan is against embracing difference, is resentful of people different from them. No one else has such prejudices. So what if these other provinces have not been put to test (confronted with a significant minority ``different`` from them). We all have faith that if and when the time comes these provinces will not go into chaos like Sind. Then again, why take the chance of such an experiment happening in the future. Why not make sure that all such cross-pollination is precluded by using cultural and linguistic identities as sheilds. Oh wait a minute, we do that already. What we must now do is institutionalize this custom.

Q. So when a parent makes a work-related move from Islamabad to Karachi, his kids, after learning for say 5-6 years in Punjabi will now start learning in Sindhi??
Possible A1. Well, this is an exception and should be ignored
Possible A2. What business do one province walas have of moving to another province anyway. Its not like these provinces form a cohesive national entity (and should not if they do now).


Re Anita:

My question of whether a pupil graduating from Grade 5 to grade 6 after being in your model of edu. will be at an advantage or a disadvantage compared to someone coming from an English-mediun school remains unanswered.

Your logic of defering teaching English/Urdu to age 8 eludes me. Why can English not be taught from age 4 onwards as a seperate, required subject?

English language teaching in the first 3/4 years (KG onwards) can be (and must be) made of a quality good enough to allow a child to transition from a more ethno-centric medium to English medium (English text, coursework) while still in the early years - grade 2 or 3.

The point about a fundamental revision in curriculum and approach is a truism. Going to 12 (in your case 5) years of Pushto, Sindhi, Punjabi medium being most beneficial is far from a given.

English is not needed for ``National Unity``. It IS needed, in my opinion, for equal opportunity
Yes I read Najam`s article and the replies. You should read Hasina Mahboob`s article about the NGO experiment in Punjab.

I think that the ``apartheid`` that exists, while certainly caused by the difference in education standards, is NOT independent of the medium of instruction, given that the global language of commerce and academics is English.

Re: Osama Ahmed

I know you think what I proposed sounds crazy but the fact is that there is SOOOO MUCH research that shows that young children learn best in their mother tongue that arguing about this is almost a moot point. If you want i can quote you a ton of references. A child learns in the classroom if he/she understands the language instructions are given in - its as simple as that. In addition, second language/s (those not spoken at home)acquisition is enhanced and facilitated if there ALREADY exists proficiency (reading and writing ability) the first language of the child.

Early educational systems desperately need to be locally relevant (decentralized) as regards to language even beyond the provincial level, if children are to derive maximal benefit from them. And what is amazing about children is, that they have the capacity to pick up many additional languages if introduced early enough (age 7 or 8). At this early level, education isn`t that technical - terms for HCF, LCM exist in native languages even though (from what I seem to remember) one doesn`t actually start learning this stuff until after age 10.

After age 10, for the sake of national unity and equal opportunity both English and Urdu should be taught in a similar manner nationwide with the hope that with consistent improvements in curricula the dual Matric/Cambridge system will eventually transition to a single system, over a 15-20 year period.

The World Bank just approved a big loan to try such a system out in Baluchistan who were smart enough to pick up on this. We should be able to know the results in about 10 years.

You may want to refer to Adil Najam`s article on Educational Apartheid and to the Read Replies section for additional commentary on this subject.

AZ

Re: Manzur Ejaz & the Punjab Assembly etc.

My perception that politicians harp on local languages is obviously valid in 3 of 4 provinces. Ethnic divide is almost synomomous with linguistic divide in Pakistan and engulfs all 4 provinces. After all what does it mean to be Sindhi e.g.? That you are resident of Sind. NO! You can live in Nathiagali and still be Sindhi and you may have lived all your life in Hyderabad and still NOT be Sindhi.

Personally your anecdote about the Punjab assembly going ``Punjabi`` is quite depressing.

1. Since schooling in Punjab is NOT Punjabi-medium, the only way we can have MPA`s that cannot speak Urdu or English is that they do not even have primary education.

2. Now, what if a Punjab MPA is not an indigenous Punjabi i.e. he does not speak Punjabi(e.g. he is a Pathan/Mohajir, perhaps a christian recently emigrated from Karachi to Islamabad etc.) - how would he follow the proceedings if they were in Punjabi. What about the rest of Pakistan. What if someone in Quetta wanted to watch the other provincial assemblies on TV? Would he need to know all the provincial languages to do so?

As an aside, I am intrigued by your mentioning how people of your time have done brilliantly without being educated in English Medium. Well there are a couple of reasons. First their English instruction was far better than what exist in Urdu-medium schools today. An MA from Nawabshah cannot speak a word of English today. An MA. A Matriculate from an Urdu Medium Institution in the 50`s/60`s could at least understand English, could converse a little in English and so higher education in a foreign land etc., were not closed shut to him.


Re: Anita and Primary Edu. in mother tongue

So what is Lowest Common Denominator in Pushto? HCF in Sindhi? I bet most Pushto/Sindhi-speaking people do not know either; nor certainly would a 7-year-old. To them the term for HCF in Sindhi is as foreign as in English. What is the point of making the child learn it twice?

So uptil Grade 5, the most productive time for learning, we are going to teach Math, Science, History in their mother tongue. You will have to first come up with the syllabi/coursework, define/create non-existent nomenclature for several technical terms in several subjects, and train your teachers on it and then your students. And the beauty of it is that they would never need any of these new-coinded terms and definitions ever again after grade 5. Another gem of a benefit would be that the people who are not indigenous (e.g a Punjabi living in Peshawar) and who do not speak the ``mother tongue`` (step-mother tongue?) would be far slowere at learning these subjects than the indigenous pupils. And they too will have to, after years of ardour, give it all away and switch to english, rather than build on it after the initial difficulty (which would be the case with an English medium from the start)

And Uptil Grade 3 (age 8), the best time for linguistic learning, we are NOT going to teach English? Or Urdu? Then when the child hits 8, we give the poor sap 2 years to master English. Great. Brilliant.

Now lets compare this child`s uptake in Grade 6 of Math, Science etc. taught now in English, with the uptake of a KGS student who is proficient in English, has learnt everything in English up to this point and is making no transition at all. Ouch.

English medium need never mean that the instruction is in English. In my school, the Math and Science teachers invariably spoke in Urdu. And thats true of nearly all English medium schools in Pakistan (replace Urdu with regional language in some cases I supppose). But the text, coursework, exams, syllabus were all in English. I dont care if you explain things in Pushto - thats what a Pushto parent would do to her Pushto child - but there are glaring problems with going ``pushto-medium``.

PS: I urge all proponents of this scheme to read Hasina Mahboob`s article - all demand and little supply (see side bar in this article) - and to analyze the plight of Sri Lanka (summary in my earlier article).

Re: Manzur Ejaz

Respected sir,

I see the merit in the basic premise of your argument - that early education in a child`s native language is essential in maximizing learning ability. However, I feel that you may be underestimating the importance of English in the Pakistan and world of today. While our politicians may not use it much, it is my impression that English is the basis on which our bureaucracy is so firmly entrenched. Since children have the greatest (and amazing) ability to learn multiple languages before the age of 12, I propose the following:

Primary education (until age 10) in the native language. Introduction of English and Urdu around age 7 to 8 as additional languages.

Secondary education in English with subjects such as History and Islamiat in Urdu, and the regional language (Pushto, Sindhi, Punjabi, etc.) continued as Literature studies.

Glad to have you join our discussions.

Anita

Finally, a really interesting piece on literacy and education. Really enjoyed the artilce and the responses, especially from the author.

So lets get back on track a bit

Re: M. Aliani
We all come with our own agendas, unfortunately, to Chowk. Looking at your replies in several places it is obvious which particular ethnicity you would fight for at the expense of all other inhabitants of the country.

Re: SR
You forgot that the best method to deal with low-blows and name-calling is to ignore that interaction entirely. Stooping to name-calling just wastes space on Chowk.

Re: the article:
No one has taken up these important questions/points: What about the success stories due to the adoption of English as the medium of education? What about the failures - ethnic divide and poor economy - despite choosing local languages as the medium of education in countries such as Sri Lanka?

There are two issues to adopting local/ethnic languages as the medium of education. One is the potential destruction of the education system, pathetic as it already is. The other is potentially deeper ethnic divides, pathetically deep as they already are (one need look no further than the interacters on this page).

While advocating several education mediums in Pakistan each based on an ethnic language, is a populist view (the politics of language is always guaranteed to get a politician elected in local elections), there are several shortcomings to the idea.

Let us start with Sri Lanka which is being shown as a shining success story.

[This article by Tissa Jayatilaka was an overview of Sri Lanka`s post-independence period:]


``To add to the social divisions based on caste, ethnicity and religion there continued to be in
post-British Sri Lanka two other significant socially divisive tendencies which had their origins in
British rule and which cut across caste and ethnic distinctions. One is the class distinction, a
product of the emerging capitalist economy and the social order that the British helped to bring
about, and the other, closely related to and interwoven with the concept of class, is the English
language. The Sri Lanka society came to be and continues to be divided into two clear-cut
groups on the basis of English and these are its English-speaking and the Swabhasha or
indigenous language speaking segments. The former is made up of those belonging to the
western-oriented middle class of urban Sri Lanka. A good percentage of the Christians, especially
those of the Protestant persuasion, belong to this group. British rule produced an English
educated class of about 6% of the nation`s population, and not surprisingly, it was this small
coterie which in effect monopolised the best jobs in both the government and the mercantile or
private sectors of Sri Lanka, apart from dominating the professions. Although its numbers have
dropped significantly due to the migration of a sizeable segment of this class to ``greener
pastures``, the English speaking class continues to remain in a dominant position to-date.

The Swabasha (mother tongue) speaking sections were and are the rural Buddhist Sinhala and the
Tamil masses. The Indian Tamil plantation workers are also in this category of ``non-elites``.

The introduction of English as the medium of instruction in education resulted in the growth in Sri
Lanka of an English educated ``elite`` which was, in reality, a very small segment of the society as
a whole. In a heterogenous society such as Sri Lanka is, this elite was drawn from all ethnic
groupings and English education for a brief period seemed to be a unifying influence in
post-British Sri Lanka. The inability, however, of the political leadership of independent Sri Lanka
to extend the benefits derived from a familiarity with and a command of the English language to a
wider segment of Sri Lankan society in combination with the ruthless exploitation of the explosive
potential of the politics of language (Sinhala/Tamil) for narrow political gain led in the main to the
bitter and brutal reality of the ethnic violence of today. This self-serving and extremely
shortsighted act of safeguarding of class interests by confining English to a dominant minority only
served to exacerbate class divisions between the indigenous intelligentsia and the
English-speaking ``elite``.``


[Now here is an excerpt from the British ouncil Sri Lanka`s recent report of Education standards in SL:]

``Historically Sri Lanka has boasted a high level of English, written and spoken. Standards declined
markedly in the wake of a decision in the 1950s to discontinue its use as the medium of instruction
in schools, and there is often a noticeable difference between the standard of English used by the
older generation (good) and the younger (weak).

The rise in recent years of English as the language of science, trade and international
communication has prompted a fundamental reassessment. The present government is making
determined efforts to reverse the deterioration.``


So the case of SL is an instructive one. There is evidence of an increase in divisiveness and a decrease in economic and academic progress both related (at least partially) to the choice of renouncing English as the education medium.


Now back to Pakistan.

1. The language of commerce/business/industry/research/advanced academia in Pakistan (as for most of the rest of the world) is english. If we try to change this, we risk whatever little economic and academic growth we have been able to sustain. If we dont change this fact (and we can`t actually) and campaign to have the vast population be english-illiterate, we may win elections but kill the country.


2. As to the point that rural children of a particular ethnic mother tongue cannot become literate easily if the medium of instruction is anything other than their ethnic mother tongue, y ou should all see the article by Hasina Mahboob about Education in Pakistan - All demand and little supply - from a speech delivered at the Economic Development Conference in MIT. In this she quotes an example of a school in a rural area (created by an NGO) which was co-educational and english medium throught, in complete contrast to all norms of schooling in rural, sub-urban areas. The children had NO difficulty in learning English (contrary to popular intuition) and learning IN english simply because that was the only thing they did from the start, as opposed to learning in Urdu/Sindhi/etc. for 6, 7 or 10 years and then switching to English only.

3. Instead of restricting English to the elite who go to O-level/A-level schools, english medium education should be gradually expanded to all schools. There are only two ways to level the playing field. Either make English pervasive or eradicate English entirely. Trying to do the latter would, in my opinion, be the last straw.

4. Urdu-medium education is a great wrong. But not for the reasons listed in the article. The problem with Urdu-medium education is NOT that it is ``not ethnic-language medium``, but that it is not ``English-medium``. Universal english medium education with seperate courses in the national and the regional language from the primary level onwards is what is needed. It is much tougher and less popular to deploy than an ethnic-tongue based system, but it is the only solution. The literacy rate would certainly shoot up if ethnic-based education was instituted, but as the author argues, ``full-literacy`` should not be the goal. The English medium approach is slow and painful in the short-term but the only possible lasting solution.

Think of an impotent full-literacy rating and even more ethnic strife than today and you can imagine an ideal Pakistan, can`t you?

Very interesting article. I feel I get educated about new things every time I come on Chowk. Literacy being a requirement for economic success is an interesting and compelling argument, and I m glad to hear a good counter argument.

I would like to point out that in fact South India, despite having a high literacy rate, is not doing so economically well. An example is kerala which has a literacy rate of close to 100%
in both english and telegu (I think) however very little economic potential. there was an article on this in the India Today several years back. Most of the money in kerala came from keralites who were working in other states or expatriates. very little of the staes revenue is generated within the state. This has lead to depression amongst well educated keralites who remain there. I don`t know if the situation has changed that much.

Similarly states like gujurat that does not have as high a literacy rate is economically well off and industrialized.

The right kind of education no doubt helps, and as you pointed out with the Bengalis, there is more to education than just economics.

Would someone please tell me what is the medium of instruction in places like Sri Lanka and Phillipines which have a higher educational level.