English Literature In Pakistan 35571b

Authored by: Haisum Bhatti http://haisum.info Is educational literature and teaching in Pakistan better in local (Any Regional or Urdu) language than in foreign language (English)?

Introduction: This Academic Writing focuses on answers to a widely discussed question about implementation of primary language in Pakistan. Some insist that our National Language, Urdu, shall be implemented as primary language because it’s the most widely understood language in country. Others argue that each province should have educational system in its own language i.e. Sindh might have Sindhi, Punjab might have Punjabi, NWFP might have Pashto and Balochistan might have Balochi as primary language. However a third group of people persist to let English to be adopted as primary language for education and literature. This writing also emphasizes that English is the best option as a language for education and literature. In this regard, writing first justifies that English language is best option for Pakistanis to get educated and develop literature in, and then endeavors to answer these questions: 1. How is English the best language to get educated in? 2. What will happen to National Language and Literature if we shift our focus to foreign language such as English? 3. Nations such as Japan, China and thrived with there own languages so why can’t we? 4. Are there any real world examples of Nations leaving there own literature for others’ literature and getting success? 5. How will people understand it, when in some regions of country they can’t even understand Urdu completely? 6. How can we implement English in our malformed system?

English, the better one… Education in English, if implemented with proper management and infrastructure, is better option for Pakistan than Education in Urdu or any other regional language. This statement requires a thorough consideration of history, feasibility and facts to get justified. Let’s elaborate this statement in of these considerations. Let’s start with some history back in post half of nineteenth century, when people in sub continent considered learning English as betrayal to their country and insult to religion “Kufr”, at the same time Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, arguably the greatest Muslim reformer and statesman of 19 century, was in th

favor of English and called it the “Modern Education” (http://www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P001). He further explained to Muslims that if they wanted to cope with and defeat British they must acquire knowledge of English literature and language. Later he established Ali-Garh University and for the first time in subAuthored by: Haisum Bhatti http://haisum.info continent, introduced English as medium of study. This university became one of the best universities of sub-continent in very short span of time. Many leaders who played vital role in independence movement were graduates from Ali-Garh University, and Ali-Garh University became center of modern education in un-partitioned India. Quaid-e-Aizam, the father of nation, was deeply familiar with English language and literature. This helped him on communicating and conveying voice of Muslims of South Asia to British rulers. It was due to his great knowledge that he was able to pursue British rulers to partition India in two parts. On many occasions he advised students to learn modern education including English to compete with developed world. After independence things started to change; leaders, who emphasized on English, either died or went or were taken away from politics. New leaders put there focus on domestic and international problems other than education. Therefore education did not flourish in the way it could have been. Literature was filled with classical education rather than modern education about science and technology. This promoted Urdu as primary language because it could be widely understood and had considerable classical literature including poetry, novels, digests, and essays on various social aspects. Urdu literature brought some good literature to study, however it was all about art. Science was either absent or was in very small extent. All scientific literature was and is in English which is then translated into Urdu. This causes an extra effort and time, which makes information obsolete until it reaches academics. Although English is not completely absent from our literature. There are books of English for students to study but local languages should supplement English rather than the other way round. Proverb that we can use to define English in our literature can be:”Learn English in Urdu”. Only implementing literature can’t make the difference therefore incorporation of English as a mandatory medium of communication is inevitable. Another factor which gives English superiority on our local languages is its global acceptance. It’s most widely spoken and understood language of world. You can find an English speaker in any part of world more easily than speaker of any other language. International business communications are also equipped with English. Translation of almost every literature’s works can

be found in English. So learning and being familiar with English will help us understand and communicate with world more easily than we can in our own local languages. World has not remained in means of any country or territory it has become a global village you can not survive without others. There is an essay in our intermediate book by Sir Bernard Russell titled “reflections on re-awakening east” in which he said that new and developing countries could not survive if they boycotted the developed nations. He also gave the example of Gandhi who boycotted the British with non-cooperation movement but this movement ended unsuccessfully. Therefore English as primary language in education can get us prepared for global challenges. Authored by: Haisum Bhatti http://haisum.info Many examples of obsolete information can be found in our books. One of such examples is lesson on computer in Sindhi Essential (Lazmee) book of ninth class. It states that: “Computers are still rare and unaffordable by common people however it is expected that they would soon come to homes of people”. Translation of another paragraph of same lesson says: “Scientists are working on making color monitors which will be available in market soon”. All of our science books still say that “Matter has three types”, however books from Oxford say Matter has four types, three: Solid, Liquid and Gas and one more: Plasma as verified by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_matter). These statements can provide a little illustration of obsoleteness of our academic literature. However literature based on English is regularly updated with latest information. This difference of information is because we have to copy and translate literature of others especially that of English to provide latest information. English based infrastructure, on the other side, will familiarize us with latest innovations without any needs of translation. In our own profession’s (IT) perspective we encounter English regularly. All programming languages, books, documentations are all in English. A good base of English in schools and colleges can help us in higher studies and a good base of English in higher studies can us in our Professional careers. According to a survey, published in regular series of online newsletters, by www.rozee.pk, a renowned online job portal, people with good command on English speaking and writing skills are preferred over people having good professional skills. In further details it clarifies that this factor is caused by impression in interviews. Usually people with English speaking skills put a better impression on interviewees than people with more technical skills. Therefore putting English as primary medium of education we can produce a number of technical and skillful people along with good communication and writing skills. On other hand, dependency on our local languages restricts us from being globally competitive and prominent.

In a nutshell English is the strongest language of 21st century. It is most developed, advance, versatile and commonly understandable language throughout the world. We can not cope with developed world unless we get a good command on English. Local languages on the other hand have limited geographical scope.

Answers to Arguments People in favour of English are often squibilled by many with different arguments. These arguements carry wheight so they are worth answering. One of frequently asked and most common question is:"How is English language better than local languages"? This question is further weighted by arguing that "Urdu ad other languages are widely understood however English is only understood in Urban areas". Implementing English in our system, keeping in mind its usability and feasibility, can not be carried immediately. However it can be implemented as a slow poison. This technique will give people time to understand English gradually. Developing understandability in common people might take time but it's not impossible. We, the people of Paksitan have already done it back in history. before invasion of Authored by: Haisum Bhatti http://haisum.info Arabs in Sindh we did not know anything about Arabic but gradually after their invasion we adopted Arabic as necessary and primary part of our local literature. At that time Arabic was in its hey-day and now English is in it's hey-day. If our ancesstors sensed the glory of Arabic ceturies ago, why can't we, more intelligent, clever and advanced people of 21st Century sense and adxopt the Glory of English language? This process might take 10 to 20 years but at least after that we will not be dumb to world, as we are today. Another fear is damage to local literature. Fully English oriented literature will discourage people working on Urdu and other local literature. As a result proliferation of local literature might get effected. Such people often miss golden chances in fear of losing. Without being prejuidiced, yes it's true that local literature will get damaged with implementatio of fully English oriented literature. But this lose is totally ignorable as compare to achievements we will acquire by understanding English properly. Our local literature only produces content regarding art, philosophy, poetry, stories, novels, and digests etc. Such literature was put in background by developed nations back in 19th century. In 20th century they started to develope scientific literature and now in 21st century majority of there literature is based on science. A possible precaution which we may take to protect our literature is to make local literature compulsory to study as we do with English in higher classes. This will cause least damage to local literature.