British Council conducts study: Madressahs realise English an essential medium for progress

According to a study conducted by British Council, the most Madressahs teachers realise that English is essential medium for progress and in professional life, said Director English British Council Mussarat Shahid on Thursday. She said while sharing the report on English Language in Pakistan with Business Recorder after the policy Dialogue, "English language in Pakistan today: class, the workplace and the shift in language use" organised by British Council recently.
She said that about 81 percent madrassas agreed that English is important for professional growth. She also said "we should focus on teachers training adding that curriculum is not so important because it is only a document." She said 27 percent Punjabi and 24 percent Pathan teachers prefer to use English in the classroom as the teaching medium, whereas in Sindh the number is 41 percent. It is interesting to note that 44 percent of Pathan teachers use languages other than English and Urdu in the classroom, as the teaching medium.
She said research also shows that 75 percent male teachers in public schools and 86 percent male teachers in private schools say that English should be the medium of education whereas 83 percent female teachers in public schools and 89 percent in the private schools say the same.
These statistics can be further segregated on the basis of provincial background where 76 percent teachers in Punjab say that English should be the medium of education while the 87 percent for urban Sindhi teachers say the same. Mussarat said interviews with the employers in the job market reflected divergent views points regarding the economic value of English in Business. These opinions could generally be collated in two groups.
The business community does not consider having English skills of much significance in running a successful business or finding a job, whereas the multinational corporations consider English competency of utmost importance.
She said that existence of pseudo English medium schools is rampant in Pakistani society. They claim that in their schools English is a medium of instruction but the entire conversation and communication between the students and the teachers is in Urdu. English is not taught as a language but rather as a subject, confined to the 40 minute English class sessions.
Earlier, the dialogue offered rich and purposeful discussion on a range of issues through keynote speeches, panel discussions, round table discussions and provided an opportunity to offer opinions and recommendations; bringing together professionals from the education, media and economic sectors.
The focus of this policy dialogue was to engage educationists and language experts in an interactive discussion that would generate ideas and recommendations to feed into a more effective language policy. Themes discussed at the Policy Dialogue included a lively debate on 'Whose English is it anyway?', 'Exploring how English is used in advertising through the subtle shifts from concepts in English to copy in Urdu', 'whether English would as important today if Pakistan as an innovative manufacturing base' and other relevant topics. On the occasion Tony Jones, Director Programmes British Council said that "Being in Lahore today to discuss the English language in Pakistan with local experts has been a fascinating experience."