Language
Education in Pakistan is carried out in two languages, Urdu and English. While Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, the language was originally and initially developed in Uttar Pradesh in neighboring India. The language was chosen as the national language by the Founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and has no relation to the belief that it was brought to Pakistan during the Partition of India by migrants called Muhajir Urdu. Urdu quickly dominated the Pakistani political landscape and Urdu is mandatory in all schools and educational institutions as part of a strategy to undermine the indigenous languages and cultures of the region (some of them being Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Brahui). Education in Pakistan was severely affected by the language bias. According to a 2010 British Council report, this forced imposition of Urdu on non-Urdu speakers in Pakistani schools and universities has resulted in the systematic degradation and decline of many of Pakistan's indigenous cultures, is partly responsible for a rise in reactionary rebellions against this ethnocracy (such as Sindhi nationalism, Baloch insurgency etc.), and contributes to discontent and political instability in the country. The report also cites rising illiteracy rates in Pakistan among the indigenous and attributes it to the forced imposition of Urdu in schools, leading to non-Urdu speakers, feeling threatened by the neglect of their languages in Pakistani education, becoming increasingly reluctant to enroll in these schools.
Read more about this topic: Education In Pakistan
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
—Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)
“When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is
taboo’d by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in without impropriety;”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)