WASHINGTON DIARY: Education in mother tongue
WASHINGTON DIARY: Education in mother tongue —Dr Manzur Ejaz
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
Research has shown that the students proficient in their mother
tongue are better equipped to learn other languages. Furthermore, it is
apparent that the countries that used mother tongues as medium of
education were better in augmenting and creating knowledge
It
was the International Mother Tongue Day three days ago (February 21). I
want my fellow Punjabis to be tolerant of other religions/sects and
look forward. I want them to be conscientious citizens who pay their
dues to society and help people who are not very fortunate in their
lives. How can I help in inculcating such a mindset in them? In other
words, given the historical limitations, what goes into grooming the
collective mindset that I desire?
Probably everyone would agree
that besides real life experience, the mind is affected by what we
observe, hear or read. As formal education starts quite early in life,
the written word has assumed unprecedented importance. Therefore, the
intolerant, obsessive mindset that most Punjabis or Pakistanis have
assumed has to be traced back, partially, to our educational system and
medium of education. There is an obvious correlation between the spread
of education and the rise of religious extremism because the rural and
formally less educated communities were much more tolerant than the new
urban or semi-urban population that has been exposed to our educational
system.
Let us take tolerance of others as a basic human value
that we expect from an enlightened/educated individual. If there is no
formal educational system, the individuals are left to their own
devices to figure out their relationship with people who are different
from them in matters of faith or traditions. Probably, the individuals
will rely on the received word from indigenous sources, i.e.
literature, the arts, traditions, etc.
In Punjab’s case, this
meant reading — there were millions of people who could read Punjabi
only — or listening to Punjabi classics. Some of these writings had
religious undertones (Sufism) while others were just romantic legends
though the traditional people interpreted them as symbolic expressions
of spiritualism. These indigenous sources, preaching humanistic values,
were helpful in creating a tolerant mindset. Taking it out of the
educational system and replacing it with Urdu, Persian or English
literature was alienating, and left the students with no real human
values: few could really grasp the material and even they could not
feel the spirit of foreign literature.
As another example, let
us see what kind of a mindset can accept a secular state. It means that
the people should understand that they are different from each other
and no group, majority or minority, has the right to impose its own
preferences on others. It also means that the relationship with the
Supreme Being should be taken as an individual act rather than a group
contract.
Mullah Shahi believes they have a unique contract with
God and therefore it is their right to impose their group preferences
on others. On the contrary, most Sufi literature in Punjabi (and in
other languages) preaches an individual relationship with the Supreme
Being and trashes the mullah for imposing group preferences. They kept
their doors open to people of other religions as well as to converted
Muslims from the lower castes — that constituted the majority of
Muslims in India — who were treated like non-Muslim untouchables. By
inculcating an individual relationship with the Supreme Being, Sufi
thought does not impinge on the politics of the state. The majority of
the population in many secular states like the US is very religious
minded, but faith is considered an individual matter. Therefore, the
Sufis were ahead of their time in preaching these notions.
Religious
formations and other makers of the Pakistan ideology were quite adamant
about keeping the people away from indigenous sources by imposing
foreign languages as mediums of education. They were conscious about
the secular content of the Sufi discourse. Therefore, if we want to
create an enlightened mindset, we have to change course and adopt
mother tongues as mediums of education so that the coming generations
are groomed through humanistic literature.
Furthermore, the
historical experience shows that mass literacy and, hence,
enlightenment cannot be achieved unless the mother tongue is used as a
medium of education, besides other factors. As a medium of education,
the mother tongue affects the quantitative as well as qualitative
outcomes. Mr Majid Sheikh has proved through historical records that at
the time of British annexation, the literacy rate in Lahore and its
neighbourhood was about 80 percent, which is down to single digits now.
The
literacy rate plunged because the medium of education was changed from
the mother tongue to Urdu and English. Some English civil servants had
foretold the consequences of not making the mother tongue the medium of
education. They argued that when Latin was the medium of education in
England, education was limited to narrow circles. However, when French
was adopted as a medium of education, the literacy rate expanded a bit,
but mass education was made possible only when the Celtic dialect,
adopted as Standard English, was made the medium of education.
The
qualitative impact of teaching in the mother tongue is also immense. To
start with, research has shown that the students proficient in their
mother tongue are better equipped to learn other languages.
Furthermore, it is apparent that the countries that used mother tongues
as medium of education were better in augmenting and creating
knowledge. East Asian countries like China, Japan, Korea and parts of
India, where mother tongues have played a serious role, are much better
off than North India (including Pakistan).
Of course this is
only one precondition for the creation of a forward looking society.
There are several other conditions that have to be met to achieve this
goal, but they are not within the scope of this short column.
The writer can be reached at manzurejaz@yahoo.com
In : Dr Manzur Ejaz
Notes