By Abbas Rashid

Date:25-02-06

Source: Daily Times

Cognitive abilities developed through early schooling in the mother tongue could go a long way in enabling the child to subsequently pick up other languages, even other subjects, with greater facility... Who knows what kind of costs we are incurring as a society by persisting with a language policy that undermines the potential of so many of our children?

A conference on the issue of quality and leadership in education helps focus our attention on what is conspicuous largely through its absence in Pakistan. Earlier this week, the Aga Khan University-Institute of Educational Development (AKU-IED) hosted some very interesting symposia and discussions on these and related issues with a wide range of participants from different parts of the world. As a number of researchers presented their findings, a variety of issues came up over three days of concurrent sessions. One that evoked considerable interest and emotion was that of language. All three of the keynote speakers touched on the issue, underlining its significance in the context of education. For us its relevance lies also in the fact that while the mother tongue has been largely banished from schooling, official policy as well as broad societal aspiration has sought to promote the learning of English by children from the earliest stages. The motivation is simple and unexceptionable: the skill opens many doors in this country and is a minimum condition for the many seeking a better future abroad.

Presumably, things are much the same in Bangladesh. But, according to Manzoor Ahmed, Director BRAC University-IED, in Bangladesh they are advocating for leaving English out of the curriculum for at least the first two years of the primary schooling. Because, he says it is a waste of scarce resources. There are very few teachers qualified to teach English so the children are not learning the language in any case and meanwhile teachers are taking time away from what they can teach and what the children could usefully learn at that stage. It is a sham grounded on the premise that children are learning English simply because the subject is introduced at an earlier stage with virtually none of the enabling factors in place.

A lot of this, of course, has a resonance in the context of Pakistan’s educational system. But the problem is further confounded when, as in the case of Punjab, the formal medium of instruction from the earliest stage of the primary cycle is a language other than the mother tongue. The latter, in fact, is not even taught as a subject underlining the cultural and cognitive dissonance between the home and the school. In most cases this means handicapping the child in terms of his or her cognitive development so that articulating in any language becomes problematic. The process has implications that go beyond language to other fields of learning. Conversely, cognitive abilities developed through early schooling in the mother tongue could go a long way in enabling the child to subsequently pick up other languages or even other subjects with greater facility.

Consider, for instance the interesting study by anthropologist L Taniuchi cited by another keynote speaker, Prof Angela W Little. While the study focuses on the phenomenon of modification of pedagogy in the process of crossing cultural frontiers, in this case a movement from Japan to the United States, it also highlights the significance of using the mother tongue in the early stages as a measure enabling the child to become a better learner. And, not just in the context of language. Taniuchi has studied the method of learning and teaching the violin popularised by Suzuki, a Japanese musician who trained in Germany and then introduced the method in Japan from where it travelled to the US. Suzuki has argued that if children could become fluent speakers in their native language by the age of five years then the pedagogy of language learning might be applied to other skills. In other words, once that comfort level is achieved in using the mother tongue, much more becomes possible as a result of improved cognitive ability. So, those who favour the idea of dispensing with the mother tongue on the grounds that it is more useful to learn Urdu and English given the national and the global context, respectively, are positing one or both as a choice.

Unfortunately, that is also how it has come to be seen by parents who often feel that any exposure to the mother tongue in school is an unnecessary drag on their children’s potential to get ahead. But the point is not to see the process as an either-or proposition. An initial grounding in the mother tongue would, in fact, better prepare the child to learn Urdu or English or any other language, later. An earlier generation amongst us did very well with their English despite being exposed to the language in school often as late as middle school or Class Vl. In any case, even today the reality in the majority of our schools, particularly in the rural areas, is that even though the materials may be in English or Urdu, the explanation is in the vernacular clearly indicating the comfort zone of the students as well as the teachers.

The discussion on language in schooling also gets tied up with the elite vs the rest syndrome. But, possibly, the fact that the children of the elite are better at English has more to do with being able to afford competent teachers and exposure to the language at home and the immediate social circle rather than an early introduction to English at school. All of which is not to say that the issue is easily resolved given our multi-cultural and multi-ethnic context.

And there may well be additional costs involved. But, that cannot be a good enough reason to brush it under the carpet. After all who knows what kind of costs we are incurring as a society by persisting with a language policy that undermines the potential of so many of our children? Hopefully, the Pakistan Educational Research Association (PERA) launched by the IED at the conclusion of the conference can take a closer look at the issue across the country and provide evidence for a more informed debate on an important aspect of the quest for quality in education in Pakistan.

Abbas Rashid is a freelance journalist and political analyst whose career has included editorial positions in various Pakistani newspapers