tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813749.post741034154025032804..comments2024-03-18T08:23:37.280+05:30Comments on Shadow Warrior: Bench-warmer PMUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813749.post-88839565464365159312007-04-17T22:09:00.000+05:302007-04-17T22:09:00.000+05:30Even the Paks have given up on urdu!Excerpt from U...<I>Even the Paks have given up on urdu!</I><BR/><BR/>Excerpt from <A HREF="http://www.opendemocracy.net/xml/xhtml/articles/4231.html" REL="nofollow">Urdu's last stand</A> by Ehsan Masood<BR/><BR/>Despite much rhetoric and many policies to make the use of the Urdu language routine across government, education, the professions and trades, it is English (old and modern) that remains stubbornly embedded as the favoured medium of communications in Pakistan . So much so, that in December 2006 the education ministry took many by surprise with a new policy announcement. <B>From late 2007, the English language will be taught much earlier in all state schools, and English will take over from Urdu as the medium of instruction for natural sciences and mathematics.</B> <BR/><BR/><BR/>The authors of a white paper released to the media on 7 January 2007 rightly agree that early-years education should be in a child's mother tongue. They also conclude that the current starting-point for pupils in state schools to learn in English (age 10) will be significantly reduced (though disagreement remains within the ministry over the exact age at which science and maths should begin to be taught in the language). <BR/><BR/><BR/>Some have been taken aback by these developments, seeing them as yet another sign that the generals who rule Pakistan seem keen on selling every last item of the family silver to London and Washington. You couldn't, for example, imagine China announcing that English would be replacing Chinese in schools, or Iran declaring that she wants to replace Farsi with French as a medium of instruction.<BR/><BR/><BR/>But what is true of China and Iran is not quite the same for Pakistan. That a development of such magnitude seems to have passed off with relatively little opposition points to an uncomfortable reality that is shared among the countries of the Commonwealth: what to do about the fact that English is just too well established to replace with any other language. In recognising this question, Pakistan's policymakers have begun to understand what the nation's citizens have known for some time.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>The long-term consequence of the new language policy is that, at last, parents from all income groups will be able to get a better English-language education for their children than at present. This, with due recognition of the losses as well as gains that may be involved, can be no bad thing. A world-class command of Urdu with an ability to appreciate the skill of its writers and poets is undoubtedly good for the soul. But what seems to count for more in 21st-century Pakistan is that fluency in English is good for the CV.Shahryarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517292342330584423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813749.post-42684575658714177452007-04-16T20:44:00.000+05:302007-04-16T20:44:00.000+05:30Nice write-up, Adheet. Keep it up! Free urdu educa...Nice write-up, Adheet. Keep it up! <BR/><BR/>Free urdu education for muslims indeed! God knows what other tricks our Honorable Prime Moron is gonna pull out of his turban!KapiDhwajahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09139440010455533683noreply@blogger.com