Urdu to be medium of instruction in primary schools: Punjab CM Buzdar

[Abdullah719]

LAHORE: The Punjab government has announced its decision to revert to Urdu as medium of instruction at the primary level in public schools from the next academic session beginning in March.

The announcement came rather abruptly through a tweet by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday in which he said the teachers and students “wasted most of their time in translating their lessons”.

A post made with the tweet said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) manifesto clearly stated that the medium of instruction would be Urdu at the primary level.

It claimed the provincial education department had conducted a survey of students, parents and teachers in 22 districts about the medium of instruction and almost 85 per cent of the respondents in each category voted for Urdu. English would be taught as a separate subject, said the post.

Sources in the bureaucracy said the abrupt decision might create difficulties in teaching at the primary level. They said the previous government led by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had conducted exhaustive consultations through an education consultant, Sir Michael Barber, and introduced English as a medium of instruction in public sector schools.

They said the Punjab government was facing serious problems as its enrolment campaigns were failing to meet targets and a large number of children remained out of schools. On the other hand, parents were more interested in sending their children to English medium private schools in their respective streets than in sending them to the public schools.

Sir Michael Barber in his book The good news from Pakistan had explained the Punjab government’s initiatives launched in consultation with the UK’s Department for International Development and the British Council.

He had later claimed that a huge number of children from private schools had shifted to the English medium public schools.

Sources said the Punjab government had also conducted teachers’ training at the formerly Directorate of Staff Development besides enhancing the basic qualification of teachers at the time of induction. They said the government should first go back to training teachers so that they could efficiently teach English terminologies to children in primary schools.

“It took almost 10 years to make a decision to introduce English medium in public sector schools and will take much time again to return to the Urdu medium instruction,” a bureaucrat said.

However, a former dean of Punjab University’s faculty of education, Prof Dr Hafiz Iqbal, said the Shahbaz Sharif government’s decision to introduce English as a medium of instruction in primary schools was “unreasonable”.

He said there should only be a strong component of the English language. “There will not be much of a requirement for training of teachers to revert to Urdu medium,” he said.

Referring to the PTI government’s slogan of introducing a uniform curriculum for all sections of society, some analysts said that reverting to Urdu as a medium of instruction would further enhance the divide between the poor and the rich Pakistanis.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1496641/urdu-to-be-medium-of-instruction-in-primary-schools-buzdar

 

[ARK Rafay]

People will have different opinions on this. But imo it's a good decision. A country can only progress far on its national language.

 

[Syed1]

Absolute pathetic decision!!!!!!!!!!!!



So instead of training our students to compete with the world we are going to restrict them to just Pakistan. Also even in Pakistan they will lag behind the students who go to English-medium schools or O/A Level system. In any job prospect these english speaking students with better speaking skills will have first dibbs (colonial hangover english skills are seen as sign of intelligence, unfortunately)


Also those saying well other countries also teach in their own languages..... the situation is not comparable. These countries like Germany, France, Japan etc have amazing centers of higher learning and their students do not have to go abroad to receive world class education. The situation is not the same in Pakistan. These days students are even exploring destinations like Malaysia and Turkey for higher learning. How will they seek better education if they cannot even converse in English?

 

[angrypathan]

Absolute pathetic decision!!!!!!!!!!!!



So instead of training our students to compete with the world we are going to restrict them to just Pakistan. Also even in Pakistan they will lag behind the students who go to English-medium schools or O/A Level system. In any job prospect these english speaking students with better speaking skills will have first dibbs (colonial hangover english skills are seen as sign of intelligence, unfortunately)


Also those saying well other countries also teach in their own languages..... the situation is not comparable. These countries like Germany, France, Japan etc have amazing centers of higher learning and their students do not have to go abroad to receive world class education. The situation is not the same in Pakistan. These days students are even exploring destinations like Malaysia and Turkey for higher learning. How will they seek better education if they cannot even converse in English?

Kids going to public schools will not have the financial means to study abroad unless they're good enough to get scholarships. Better that they at least receive some education and actually understand what they're being taught.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

If you want people to learn something in schools they need to teach people in their own language. Schools in every district should be initially taught in their own local language and dialect. As children move to higher classes they should then be introduced to national language and then the international language. We tend to ignore the fact that children in the villages of Punjab don't understand urdu, or at least find it very hard to speak the language. When they go to schools, they are not even taught in their own language but are expected to learn urdu and english simultaneously. This is the reason why many of the children can't read or write despite being taught in schools.

 

[Fahdi]

Up to primary is fine but please don't go down the road of making your secondary and higher education in Urdu like many people in our country insist. Having science education in English opens up a whole world of opportunities to learn through online education and pursue higher studies.

 

[blackanhyellow]

There are still people in KPK, Balochistan, South Punjab, Sindh that dont even speak urdu, let alone English.


Urdu was chosen as the Pakistani national language to unite people.

People should be proud of their regional languages( Punjabi, Pashto, Balochi, etc...) but there needs to be a language that transcends provincial boundaries.

Urdu is that language.

More than anything right now, Pakistan needs national unity. There are forces at work right now, that are trying its hardest to divide the country based on ethnic or linguistic lines.


Let that be the baseline, then Pak can work from there.

English can be taught as a compulsory additional subject.

 

[KB]

If you want people to learn something in schools they need to teach people in their own language. Schools in every district should be initially taught in their own local language and dialect. As children move to higher classes they should then be introduced to national language and then the international language.

This is such an important point. And anyone who doubt this should read Nadia Naviwala's study on the state of education in Pakistan:

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/public...ide-story-education-reform-efforts-gone-wrong

 

[KB]

This is such an important point. And anyone who doubt this should read Nadia Naviwala's study on the state of education in Pakistan:

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/public...ide-story-education-reform-efforts-gone-wrong

And if you don't have time to read the long report, listen to the following 3 minute clip:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06zqql9

 

[moghul]

Urdu medium, good to produce lots of clerks but fewer officers. KP people are smart , promoting English medium education.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

LAHORE: The Punjab government has announced its decision to revert to Urdu as medium of instruction at the primary level in public schools from the next academic session beginning in March.

The announcement came rather abruptly through a tweet by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday in which he said the teachers and students “wasted most of their time in translating their lessons”.

A post made with the tweet said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) manifesto clearly stated that the medium of instruction would be Urdu at the primary level.

It claimed the provincial education department had conducted a survey of students, parents and teachers in 22 districts about the medium of instruction and almost 85 per cent of the respondents in each category voted for Urdu. English would be taught as a separate subject, said the post.

Sources in the bureaucracy said the abrupt decision might create difficulties in teaching at the primary level. They said the previous government led by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had conducted exhaustive consultations through an education consultant, Sir Michael Barber, and introduced English as a medium of instruction in public sector schools.

They said the Punjab government was facing serious problems as its enrolment campaigns were failing to meet targets and a large number of children remained out of schools. On the other hand, parents were more interested in sending their children to English medium private schools in their respective streets than in sending them to the public schools.

Sir Michael Barber in his book The good news from Pakistan had explained the Punjab government’s initiatives launched in consultation with the UK’s Department for International Development and the British Council.

He had later claimed that a huge number of children from private schools had shifted to the English medium public schools.

Sources said the Punjab government had also conducted teachers’ training at the formerly Directorate of Staff Development besides enhancing the basic qualification of teachers at the time of induction. They said the government should first go back to training teachers so that they could efficiently teach English terminologies to children in primary schools.

“It took almost 10 years to make a decision to introduce English medium in public sector schools and will take much time again to return to the Urdu medium instruction,” a bureaucrat said.

However, a former dean of Punjab University’s faculty of education, Prof Dr Hafiz Iqbal, said the Shahbaz Sharif government’s decision to introduce English as a medium of instruction in primary schools was “unreasonable”.

He said there should only be a strong component of the English language. “There will not be much of a requirement for training of teachers to revert to Urdu medium,” he said.

Referring to the PTI government’s slogan of introducing a uniform curriculum for all sections of society, some analysts said that reverting to Urdu as a medium of instruction would further enhance the divide between the poor and the rich Pakistanis.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1496641/urdu-to-be-medium-of-instruction-in-primary-schools-buzdar

Just goes to show how Punjabis lack any self respect. Urdu is NOT the original language of Punjab, it's PUNJABI. Schools should be teaching Punjabi and Urdu to its pupils.

In Sindh, they teach Sindhi and Urdu. Why is Punjab not teaching both languages?

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

People will have different opinions on this. But imo it's a good decision. A country can only progress far on its national language.

Urdu is not the national language, it's an OFFICIAL language of communication between Pakistanis. The official languages are our regional languages, which Pakistan has been ignoring since the late 1970s.

Pakistanis need to understand this is a multicultural and multilingual country. Every province should be teaching its own language alongside Urdu - only Sindh so far has done that. The rest of the provinces are still stuck in the colonial occupation era.

This country will progress when people are taught and educated in their mother tongues. Then they will UNDERSTAND concepts, and ACTUALLY LEARN instead of doing RATA.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

Absolute pathetic decision!!!!!!!!!!!!

How?

So instead of training our students to compete with the world we are going to restrict them to just Pakistan.

Japan doesn't teach a single word of English to its students. They are by-far the top students in the world when it comes to math and science. Explain that to me.

Also even in Pakistan they will lag behind the students who go to English-medium schools or O/A Level system.

Why are English medium schools in Pakistan to begin with? Have you heard of English schools in Korea? Japan? China? Germany?

In any job prospect these english speaking students with better speaking skills will have first dibbs (colonial hangover english skills are seen as sign of intelligence, unfortunately)

Then the government needs to build a spine and enact language laws. It's pathetic to see a country being overrun by English. If companies want to operate it Pakistan, they should respect the local languages first, otherwise no thanks.

This is what self respecting countries like France have done to prevent English from destroying its language and culture.

Also those saying well other countries also teach in their own languages..... the situation is not comparable These countries like Germany, France, Japan etc have amazing centers of higher learning and their students do not have to go abroad to receive world class education.

Korea in 1950 was a sh*thole. 40 years later they were hosting the Summer Olympics. Explain that to me. The reason why those countries have amazing centres of higher learning is because they are TAUGHT IN THEIR MOTHER TONGUES. GET THIS INTO YOUR SKULL.

When you are TAUGHT MATH AND SCIENCE IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE, YOU WILL NATURALLY COMPREHEND IT BETTER instead of MEMORIZING (RATA) which is what Pakistani kids do.

Memorizing means nothing in terms of research and development. That's why their universities are top notch, because they teach their children in languages they understand...hence they build better concepts...hence the R&D output is of higher quality.

The situation is not the same in Pakistan. These days students are even exploring destinations like Malaysia and Turkey for higher learning.

Let them go. At the end of the day, making English the medium of learning won't solve anything. Ask the African countries who's official languages are English. What good has that done for them? Nothing.

How will they seek better education if they cannot even converse in English?

Ask Japan and Korea.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

Urdu medium, good to produce lots of clerks but fewer officers. KP people are smart , promoting English medium education.

KP is stupid. Promoting English instead of Pashto. Congratulations on building conveyor belts for people to go to English countries. That's all you're doing.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

I learned English, not from my school but from my mother. She would sit with a dictionary and translate in Urdu each and every word from the English paragraphs of my textbooks. In that way, I learned to translate English words to Urdu to understand what they actually meant. Once I understand the meaning of most English it was only then I was able to write in English. I was lucky that Urdu was my mother tongue. Imagine being non-urdu spreaker and only have Urdu-to-English and English-to-Urdu dictionaries available to you. Can't imagine the frustration.

 

[moghul]

KP is stupid. Promoting English instead of Pashto. Congratulations on building conveyor belts for people to go to English countries. That's all you're doing.

If everything went well, there will be lot of foreign investment in Pakistan by foreign countries in coming years, just like India and Bangladesh and they will not be looking for pushto, punjabi or urdu speaking job seekers for some decent jobs, they will ask for English speaking applicants. Yes, for lower level job , like clerks, or other unskilled workers job, it would not matter.

 

[moghul]

What else you expect from an uneducated CM.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

If everything went well, there will be lot of foreign investment in Pakistan by foreign countries in coming years, just like India and Bangladesh and they will not be looking for pushto, punjabi or urdu speaking job seekers for some decent jobs, they will ask for English speaking applicants. Yes, for lower level job , like clerks, or other unskilled workers job, it would not matter.

And that's the difference between you and me. I look at developed countries to model myself after...you look at trash to model yourself after.

Stop behaving like a slave. It's embarassing. Foreign investment doesn't mean you destroy your culture and language. If they really want to operate in our country, learn OUR language.

No foreign company dares to do what you're proposing in countries like Japan and Korea. That's the difference between civilized, proud nations and dead, colonies.

 

[moghul]

And that's the difference between you and me. I look at developed countries to model myself after...you look at trash to model yourself after.

Stop behaving like a slave. It's embarassing. Foreign investment doesn't mean you destroy your culture and language. If they really want to operate in our country, learn OUR language.

No foreign company dares to do what you're proposing in countries like Japan and Korea. That's the difference between civilized, proud nations and dead, colonies.

World is fast becoming a global village with no place for "frog in the well" mentality. Urdu is not a global language and Pakistan is not Japan and Korea. All high level professional education even in Pakistan including medical education which I received is in English.

 

[Syed1]

World is fast becoming a global village with no place for "frog in the well" mentality. Urdu is not a global language and Pakistan is not Japan and Korea. All high level professional education even in Pakistan including medical education which I received is in English.

And that's how it should be.... China is investing billions of dollar every year to improve the English language skills of their students. Heck I come across advertisements here in Canada quite often of job postings to go teach English in China etc.


The world is getting more and more globalized every day and the universal language is English it is not going to change for the foreseeable future. If you have to compete with the world you will have to learn English. We have a comparative advantage in this regard since we were colonized by the Brits and English is kind of essential here for legal work etc. In other countries that had other colonizers for example Lebanon, their students have to enroll in special classes just to learn English otherwise they are only taught Arabic and French.


Also Urdu vocabulary is not at the same standard of languages like German, French, Japanese, Korean etc. A science textbook in Urdu has just the english science words written in urdu script which makes it super hard to read. To give you an example, the urdu word for television is just television written in urdu text lmao while the Germans have their own word for it.

 

[Roaring40s]

It is very difficult to teach Mathematics, Science and technology in any of the subcontinent languages and Urdu is no exception. As [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] has mentioned, there are no equivalent words for many of the terms.

Also, how can you write mathematical notations and equations of Physics and Chemistry in Urdu?

 

[blackanhyellow]

It is very difficult to teach Mathematics, Science and technology in any of the subcontinent languages and Urdu is no exception. As [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] has mentioned, there are no equivalent words for many of the terms.

Also, how can you write mathematical notations and equations of Physics and Chemistry in Urdu?

What language do they teach these subjects in india?

Is it hindi or english for primary school?

I am assuming higher education is in english.

 

[Roaring40s]

In my state, Science and Mathematics are compulsorily in English from std. 1 in all government schools.

Private schools do and always will prefer teaching in English.

In larger schools with three or more divisions of each class, they normally reserve one division for teaching Science/Mathematics in local language. Students with severe lingual problems get pushed to this division.

They began to teach these subjects in English from std. 5 from late 90s/early 2000s which was changed to first year of schooling from 2010 or so.

Interesting note about higher education - Some of the Universities tried bachelors degrees in Science with medium of instruction in Hindi and Urdu during 80s. They closed the programs after just one or two batches. Non-availability of the reference texts was the major reason.

It is possible to get higher education in History, Social Geography and Sociology, Economics, Management, Political Science, Education, law(very rare), Journalism etc in many local languages. But you are highly un-employable after getting such degrees. Changes proposed by National Education Policy 2019 will most likely do away with these institutes replacing many with liberal arts based courses.

Proposed NEP 2019 draft document (beware, about 500 pages) is freely available for everyone to read on many government websites.

 

[JaDed]

It is very difficult to teach Mathematics, Science and technology in any of the subcontinent languages and Urdu is no exception. As [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] has mentioned, there are no equivalent words for many of the terms.

Also, how can you write mathematical notations and equations of Physics and Chemistry in Urdu?

Its there in Hindi, hardly people take it up but its there.

 

[yasir]

This is most absurd thing I have heard in long time. Why in the world you want to go back to Urdu medium??

First off, some people will say, it’s better to learn in your mother tongue, well Urdu is not mother tongue for most Pakistanis. It’s Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi etc. what’s the point of having to learn Urdu only for 5 years, that energy is better served in mastering one language that is truly global.

Secondly, half of India does not speak their national language, actually that was south’s biggest advantage when internet came, they were more ready than north or most of the world to take software on, since they already had English covered. There are way too many South Indians in IT than not just north but anti other country in the world, this all started with foundation of English, even now developed countries like Germany, French, Northern Europe have started to learn in English to get keep up with science and tech. It’s just too much content produced in English to ignore...


Third, statistically in Pakistan for last 70 years, it’s proven English medium schools are better than Urdu and madrasa are worse. Why you want to lower the standard rather than raising the rest to English

Fourth, one of the fundamental problem with Muslim culture is that it lacks developing critical thinking in early age. Muslims out of probably everybody else in the world, spend way too much precious time on kids in learning, a completely unrelated language and learning technique aka reading Quran. This is forced upon kids both physiologically and forcefully. This is completely opposite of critical thinking. Muslims don’t learn Arabic, they just read only forcefully at age of 5-10, this whole process is boring. That time of your life should be involved in creative and fun activities, this literally puts Muslims at huge disadvantage then rest of the population....

You can see side effect of this kind of culture, even Muslim doctors and engineers are predominantly conservatives, they don’t understand not value Science, for them it is good money, that’s about it. Science and tech is never part of our culture. Universities are filled with tabgliees and jamat, who have no interest in Science.

We need to modernize education and culture of education, make it 21C, not take it back to 6C

Look at Pakistanis western educated politicians, first off none of them studied science, from Iqbal, Jinnah to IK, they studied law or political science. Secondly, they wanted to milk on conservative culture, where as most, if not all of them had very liberal western life style. It’s not like they get enlightened( their kids never get that dose of conservatism), it was their business need.

 

[Kianig89]

Pathetic decision if implemented by Pain do Buzdar have already seen Masters Degree holder stutter and unable speak and comprehend Engllsh the reason their primary schooling was done in urdu medium keep it in mind after getting primary edu. in Urdu when you get to Eng. medium at secondary level specifically in science subjects like Chemistry Physics then you are absolutely dumb to understand anything.

Not only the medium should be english also student should be taught English & other language like Chinese as special subject to save you the $$ from gettig IELTS and other certi.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Terrific Decision. Children learn best when they get taught in a language they understand.

For the people here from Pakistan who are complaining about this, the education that you received from the English Medium private school that you went to is not the education that poor children are receiving. Most of these private schools and government schools where poor children go to the teachers cant speak English well enough for it to be an English Medium school. Students don't learn anything there, as someone else pointed out above there is a study that has been done which shows how these schools are failing children.

The Citizens Foundation teaches poor children in Urdu and teaches them English later on, and there schools are way better than the government ones. And I have read they are working on improving that to make it teach in mother tongue, then teach Urdu and English later on.

In a perfect world children should learn in their mother tongue, then learn Urdu as its a lingua franca of not just Pakistan but the entire subcontinent, and then learn the global lingua franca of English. But almost every Punjabi understands Urdu so Urdu should work just fine for Punjab.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Just goes to show how Punjabis lack any self respect. Urdu is NOT the original language of Punjab, it's PUNJABI. Schools should be teaching Punjabi and Urdu to its pupils.

In Sindh, they teach Sindhi and Urdu. Why is Punjab not teaching both languages?

Nothing to do with lack of self respect. In West Punjab, Punjabi has never ever been an official language. Under the British it was Urdu, as they though Punjabi was simply a dialect of Urdu. And for the last 1000 years before that the official language was Persian. Punjabi has more Persian Words than even Urdu.

Most people can speak Urdu now though, so they feel comfortable with keeping it official. And since Punjabis are already the majority they don't need to have Punjabi nationalism like Sindhi's do. Also in the 20th century the best Urdu poets came from Punjab, so Urdu is very much a language of Punjab now.

 

[LongHorn]

Bangladesh's Zia ur Rahman changed the medium of teaching from English to Bangla in the late 70's. The results can be seen by looking at English skills of Baby boomer Uncles and Gen X'ers, the latter being good in English only if they studied well in university..

Of course back then, and even now, not teaching in English was justified by citing Germany and Japan as countries who used their national language to prosper, ignoring all other factors which helped them prosper ….

 

[Loralai]

Education must be provided in mother tongue. Especially at primary school level. Bad decision.

 

[Major]

Doesnt matter what language they teach in school. Be it Urdu, English, French or German.

1. Urdu is a very difficult language. English is damn easy.

2. Learning Science and maths in Urdu is difficult and irrelevant because the same subject will have to be taught in english.

3.Again, GROUND REALITIES. You overseas Pakistanis talk about how primary education should be in Urdu.
Bhai, i study in a Pakistani university. My classmates, about 30 of them have got good primary education in Urdu. You know why my classmates lag behind while i get good grades on poor assignments? English! I just communicate my knowledge in theory subjects in better english. I have good punctuality thats it.

I dont have knowledge, but this able to get marks on good writing skills.

I have talented classmates, but they dont get the marks due to the language barrier.

4. If you want kids to develop a language, it is important that you have Television entertainment. A kid learns his language from watching Television. We dont even create our own cartoons.
We take foreign cartoons and dub them into hindi.

5. Make English the primary language but place Urdu as a second language course.

 

[faraz39]

Reading the incomprehensible English comments from people in Pakistan on social media, clearly it is better to stick to your mother tongue while communicating. Even those educated in fancy primary schools can get their point across but can't express themselves lucidly (most of my cousins). I am not taking a side in this debate but simply making an observation.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

The sad thing is, it Pakistanis nowadays don't speak proper English, don't speak proper Urdu and don't speak their mother tongues properly.

They make a kicheri of all three languages and make absolute fools of themselves. Pick one language and learn to read, write and comprehend it properly please.

It should be every province MUST teach their regional language alongside Urdu.

Learning English doesn't make you richer or more educated. There are dozens of countries in Africa whose official languages are English and French...what good has that done for them?

Please grow out of your colonial mentality. Already countless studies have proven that teaching children science and maths in your native tongue is BETTER. They understand it better and build concepts better.

Simply doing rata of English terms is not helping anybody.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

Why schools should teach young learners in home language
By Professor Angelina Kioko
16 January 2015 - 13:25
https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-schools-should-teach-young-learners-home-language

In countries where English is not the first language, many parents and communities believe their children will get a head-start in education by going 'straight for English' and bypassing the home language. However, as Professor Kioko points out, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Many governments, like Burundi recently, are now making English an official national language. Their motivation behind this is to grow their economies and improve the career prospects of their younger generations. Alongside this move, we are seeing a trend, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, to introduce English as a medium of instruction in basic education.

However, research findings consistently show that learners benefit from using their home language in education in early grade years (ahead of a late primary transition stage). Yet, many developing countries continue to use other languages for teaching in their schools.

In Kenya, the language of instruction is English, and some learners in urban and some cosmopolitan settings speak and understand some English by the time they join school. But learners in the rural areas enter school with only their home language. For these learners, using the mother tongue in early education leads to a better understanding of the curriculum content and to a more positive attitude towards school. There are a number of reasons for this.

First, learning does not begin in school. Learning starts at home in the learners’ home language. Although the start of school is a continuation of this learning, it also presents significant changes in the mode of education. The school system structures and controls the content and delivery of a pre-determined curriculum where previously the child was learning from experience (an experiential learning mode).

On starting school, children find themselves in a new physical environment. The classroom is new, most of the classmates are strangers, the centre of authority (the teacher) is a stranger too. The structured way of learning is also new. If, in addition to these things, there is an abrupt change in the language of interaction, then the situation can get quite complicated. Indeed, it can negatively affect a child’s progress. However, by using the learners’ home language, schools can help children navigate the new environment and bridge their learning at school with the experience they bring from home.

Second, by using the learners’ home language, learners are more likely to engage in the learning process. The interactive learner-centred approach – recommended by all educationalists – thrives in an environment where learners are sufficiently proficient in the language of instruction. It allows learners to make suggestions, ask questions, answer questions and create and communicate new knowledge with enthusiasm. It gives learners confidence and helps to affirm their cultural identity. This in turn has a positive impact on the way learners see the relevance of school to their lives.

But when learners start school in a language that is still new to them, it leads to a teacher-centred approach and reinforces passiveness and silence in classrooms. This in turn suppresses young learners’ potential and liberty to express themselves freely. It dulls the enthusiasm of young minds, inhibits their creativity, and makes the learning experience unpleasant. All of which is bound to have a negative effect on learning outcomes.

A crucial learning aim in the early years of education is the development of basic literacy skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. Essentially, the skills of reading and writing come down to the ability to associate the sounds of a language with the letters or symbols used in the written form. These skills build on the foundational and interactional skills of speaking and listening. When learners speak or understand the language used to instruct them, they develop reading and writing skills faster and in a more meaningful way. Introducing reading and writing to learners in a language they speak and understand leads to great excitement when they discover that they can make sense of written texts and can write the names of people and things in their environment. Research in Early Grade Reading (EGRA) has shown that pupils who develop reading skills early have a head-start in education.

It has also been shown that skills and concepts taught in the learners’ home language do not have to be re-taught when they transfer to a second language. A learner who knows how to read and write in one language will develop reading and writing skills in a new language faster. The learner already knows that letters represent sounds, the only new learning he or she needs is how the new language ‘sounds’ its letters. In the same way, learners automatically transfer knowledge acquired in one language to another language as soon as they have learned sufficient vocabulary in the new language. For example, if you teach learners in their mother tongue, that seeds need soil, moisture and warmth to germinate. You do not have to re-teach this in English. When they have developed adequate vocabulary in English, they will translate the information. Thus, knowledge and skills are transferable from one language to another. Starting school in the learners’ mother tongue does not delay education but leads to faster acquisition of the skills and attitudes needed for success in formal education.

Use of the learners’ home language at the start of school also lessens the burden on teachers, especially where the teacher speaks the local language well (which is the case in the majority of the rural schools in multilingual settings). Research has shown that in learning situations where both the teacher and the learner are non-native users of the language of instruction, the teacher struggles as much as the learners, particularly at the start of education. But when teaching starts in the teachers’ and learners’ home language, the experience is more natural and less stressful for all. As a result, the teacher can be more creative and innovative in designing teaching/learning materials and approaches, leading to improved learning outcomes.

In summary, the use of learners’ home language in the classroom promotes a smooth transition between home and school. It means learners get more involved in the learning process and speeds up the development of basic literacy skills. It also enables more flexibility, innovation and creativity in teacher preparation. Using learners’ home language is also more likely to get the support of the general community in the teaching/learning process and creates an emotional stability which translates to cognitive stability. In short, it leads to a better educational outcome.

Angelina Kioko is a professor of English and Linguistics at United States International University, Nairobi, Kenya.

 

[Syed1]

The sad thing is, it Pakistanis nowadays don't speak proper English, don't speak proper Urdu and don't speak their mother tongues properly.

They make a kicheri of all three languages and make absolute fools of themselves. Pick one language and learn to read, write and comprehend it properly please.

It should be every province MUST teach their regional language alongside Urdu.

Learning English doesn't make you richer or more educated. There are dozens of countries in Africa whose official languages are English and French...what good has that done for them?

Please grow out of your colonial mentality. Already countless studies have proven that teaching children science and maths in your native tongue is BETTER. They understand it better and build concepts better.

Simply doing rata of English terms is not helping anybody.

Maybe your 2 minute google search to turn into an expert didn't tell you that Urdu vocabulary isn't developed enough to have science terms incorporated in it. Usually the science terms are english ones written in urdu text. Which makes it even harder to read. Pick up an urdu book, I'm sure you can find some by doing a google search.