Language Policy and Education in Pakistan
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LANGUAGE POLICY AND EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN
INTRODUCTION
Pakistan is a multilingual state with six major languages—Punjabi (spoken by 44.15% out of a population of 153 million in 2003); Pashto (15.42); Sindhi (14.10); Siraiki (10.53); Urdu (7.57); Balochi (3.57)— and about 57 minor ones. Urdu is the national language and English the official one (Census, 2001). The 1973 constitution of the country, which was suspended in part both during the military rule of Generals Zia ul Haq (1977–1988) and Pervez Musharraf (1999-), is again in force. It provides the following guidelines on language policy: 1. The National language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within 15 years from commencing day. 2. Subject to clause (1) the English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements for its replacement by Urdu. 3. Without prejudice to the state of the National language, a provincial Assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to the national language (Article 251). This further relates to education policy and practice, as well as employment prospects of educated people, because the medium of instruction and the language of the domains of power—government, bureaucracy, military, judiciary, education, media, research, the corporate sector, commerce, etc.—are the languages desired by individuals to empower themselves and their children. E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T S
Pakistan inherited certain policies relating to language and education from British India of which it was a part from 1846 till 1947. The language of the domains of power in this part of South Asia was Persian ever since the eleventh century (Alam, 2004, pp. 116–117). The Islamic seminaries (madrassas) taught in Persian though most of the texts were in Arabic. Very rarely, some texts were taught in the indigenous languages of the people. Some of these texts in Sindhi, Punjabi, and Pashto are referred to in Rahman (2004, p. 326, 384, 355). When the British conquered Sindh (in 1846) and the Punjab (in 1849), they allowed the S. May and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 1: Language Policy and Political Issues in Education, 383–392. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
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TA R I Q R A H M A N
madrassas to remain in the hands of the Muslim ulema (the equivalent of clergymen though Islam formally has no clergy). They were financed by local feudal lords or merchants. Public funds were used to create a chain of schools in which Urdu was the medium of instruction in the Punjab, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), parts of British Baluchistan and some of the princely states now in the boundaries of Pakistan. In Sindh, however, they used Sindhi in schools as well as the lower domains of power, and this tradition continues to date. In short, the British left behind a legacy of three streams of education roughly divided along socioeconomic class lines: the madrassas c
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