Shams Kassim-Lakha, President Aga Khan University Hospital, on Wednesday said that without gaining proficiency in written and spoken English, people would remain deprived of many new ideas needed for the development and progress of their own self.
Lakha was speaking at the book launching of "Language Policy, Planning and Practice: A South Asian Perspective" held at the AKU on Wednesday.
He said people were living in the communication age in which knowledge of English was crucial.
The point that need to be stressed with all the power was that, alongside the national and regional languages, English must also play a pivotal role in the education system, Lakha said.
He said all countries and government had to face the challenge that confronted them as languages were changing and mutating, with English emerging as by far the leading means of communication.
Lakha said communication should be in clear, simple and effective language as the purpose was to express and not to impress the reader.
However, he said the standard of written as well as spoken English had gone down and needed improvement.
He said that it was not only English that had suffered at the hands of many linguists, but Urdu also had fallen in the hands of those who had not understood its finites. Much was yet to be done to improve written and spoken Urdu, many linguists believed, Lakha opined.
He said, "The said book highlights an important subject that has yet to receive the attention it needs. The articles in the book by some of South Asia's leading language teaching specialists, highlight the need to shape and design a bilingual policy that corresponds with and complements these countries' cultural pluralism."
Lakha congratulated the Aga Khan University Centre of English Language, and the editors, for their interest and efforts in presenting the proceedings of their earlier conference "in this impressive book."
He said that the trend was changing and many countries, which were reluctant to offer English as a second language to their students, had established English teaching and training centres for their students.
He said educational institutions should look into this special aspect of English language and structure their syllabus accordingly.
Among others Ameena saiyid, managing director, Oxford University Press, editors of the book Dr Sabiha Mansoor, Shaheen Meraj and Aliya Tahir, Dr Samina Qadir, head of the English Department, Fatima Jinnah Women's University, Samina Khan of the British Council and chief guest Dr Najma Najam, vice chancellor, Fatima Jinnah University spoke on the occasion.
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