Complexities lie in providing education with school children’s first

language as medium of instruction

Since Independence, there has been a lot of noise in the country about School children’s first

language as a medium of instruction in Schools. Language of Instruction is at the centre of all the

teaching and learning activities because it is the main medium and source for transmission of

information and knowledge. According to Coleman, if children firstly become literate in their

home language then laterly have learning of a second or foreign language is likely to be more

successful than if the second or foreign language is used as the medium of instruction. As it,

enhance their learning outcomes, social development, confidence, and critical thinking skills

[ CITATION Hyw10 \l 1033 ]. Pakistan as a multilingual country with a rich traditional history,

have many option for the medium of instruction in the country as Urdu as the national language

of the country, English as the language of science and technology, and different mother tongues.

As the people living in different parts of the country speaks different languages. This situation

provokes the most awful issue of medium of instruction in the institution[ CITATION Sai11 \l

1033 ]. This document contains analysis on complexities that lie in providing education with

school children’s first language as medium of instruction in Pakistan?

When we analyze it under a context of Pakistan we should first consider, is it possible under

constitution of Pakistan. Under 18 amendment Provinces have educational autonomy, IBCC

and other educational interprovincial coordination committee has very less autonomy in primary

and secondary education except higher education, as decentralization of federal government in

education sector has done and Curriculum, syllabus, planning, policy, Centers of Excellence,
Standards of education are now come under mandate of provinces [ CITATION Eig10 \l 1033 ]. So

constitution of Pakistan supports the implementation of medium of instruction in the mother

tongue as every province can have their own curriculum and medium of instruction according to

their area needs. But we should also keep in consideration a fact that Pakistan is a country with

people from diverse culture, language, background, and ethnic group. Even within

provinces there are different Language dialects. Along with it, due to uneven economic,

social and Technological development across country there is a large number of Rural to urban

migration and interprovincial and intra provincial migration as well. [ CITATION Sha11 \l 1033 ] . In

order to address this diversity the educational scheme and policies have to be made in such a way

that it addresses the educational need of every community and people and no one is left

behind[ CITATION Ali17 \l 1033 ] . To meet the diversity within Provinces there should be autonomy

at district and school level which is a bigger challenge under current constitution [ CITATION Eig10

\l 1033 ]. And if this autonomy is given what mechanism will be introduced to maintain the

national identity and uniformity of education throughout Pakistan is a big question.

Another Big challenge is currently, We have different education system in Pakistan, Public

education system ,private and semi government education system so it is very difficult to

keep keeping first language as a medium of instruction in Pakistan ,As all education systems

have different curriculum ,Pedagogy, learning environment and policies [ CITATION Sai11 \l 1033 ].

According to Coleman (2010) Urdu is the medium of instruction in government schools, English

is the medium in elite private schools and English is claimed to be the medium in no elite private

schools. In Urban areas the student which goes to these schools are of different background,

culture and have different first language, For children of high class families English is First

language and for children of middle and upper middle class mostly Urdu is a first language and
some student have Punjabi and Pashto or hindko as their first language so it is big challenge to

teach the student in the first language in a class with such diversity [ CITATION Hyw10 \l 1033 ].

Another Challenge is that “English as a language has attained the high status in Pakistan. English

is assumed to be required for joining and advancement in civil services, armed forces, better

paying jobs in private companies and NGOs. It is also medium of instruction in universities that

is why it is required by parents in schools” [ CITATION Man13 \l 1033 ]. it’s a Stigma in our

society of associating literacy and quality of education with good English speaking skills .As

parents want to send their children which are English medium as English seems to promising a

good job and bright future. And as market demand drives the school policies so school are more

incline towards using English as medium of instruction in early years of children as well

according to parents demand [ CITATION Sai11 \l 1033 ]. So Workshop for changing mindsets of

schools administrators and parents are need to give them insight that by using first language as

the medium of instruction your children learning outcome would more increase [ CITATION Hyw10

\l 1033 ].

For Under developing country like Pakistan, Where people are not getting their basic necessities

of life, another big issue is managing the Resources and Financing. According to Coleman

teacher’s training, preparing textbooks and delivering education in several languages is

clearly more expensive than doing so in just one language [ CITATION Hyw10 \l 1033 ].More

Educational experts, teacher and trainers need to be hire to developed curriculum and content in

different Pakistani languages along with it provide training to all teacher to equip them with

good teaching skills in student first language. But providing primary education for large numbers

of children who drop out early and who acquire almost negligible levels of literacy and

numeracy while they are in school is even more. Coleman suggested that in the early years of
primary schools, a home language education policy does not necessarily imply that every

indigenous language would need to be involved. As by just seven major languages 85% of the

school population in Pakistan would be covered .As greater experience was acquired and as the

education system became more confident in adopting a number of different languages the

approach could be extended to some minority languages with smaller numbers of speakers

[ CITATION Hyw10 \l 1033 ]. But by this approach the sense of discrimination can be developed in

minorities communities which can affect in future the nation unity and solidarity

Beside of all these challenges, creating a uniform Assessment mechanism for all schools which

have content and context in different languages is the very challenging task . If the medium of

instruction in all the provinces will be different in first language of natives; it will bring variation

in curriculum and books across the country [ CITATION Hyw10 \l 1033 ]. Along with it the Financial

and economical condition of Pakistan is not in a shape to tolerate such a heavy expenses on

Resource development (books, curriculum, teacher training, Assessment system ) require to

implement first language of people as medium of instruction .If these required challenges are

keep in account and tackle properly its implementation is possible. We can say there are a lot of

challenges in implementing the children first language as a medium of instruction in Pakistan but

the outcome is fruitful. So the path is difficult but not impossible.

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