The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s order to implement Urdu as the official language has stirred a nationwide debate among linguistics, educationists, and scholars -- regarding the impact this verdict is likely to leave on education, in particular.

English language in Pakistan today: Class, the workplace and the shift in language use, a study conducted by the British Council a few years ago, states, "Those who afford to go to high standard private schools access better learning material, authentic environments and well-trained teachers whereas the poor and low-income families miss out on the opportunity to learn English up to the standards assumed by society."

The report also claims that there are many so-called English-medium schools in Pakistan which claim to have English as a medium of instruction but the entire conversation and communication between the students and teachers is done in Urdu. The report highlights that English language is deeply rooted in the Pakistani society, where 49 per cent of the population (88.69 million) speaks English.

However, the report further says that English language has become a global phenomenon but in a country like Pakistan the proficiency level among teachers and students, in general, is quite poor, while 90 per cent teachers in Punjab are not equipped to teach different subjects in English.

Zakia Sarwar, founder member of the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT), says the issue of teaching English is extremely complex, especially in Pakistan, because we have as yet not made up our minds about the status of this language in our country. "For one thing, the bureaucrats who head the ministry and the departments of education, who end up making and implementing education policies, have very little knowledge about the deeper implications of this issue. Their understanding of how English should be taught -- or for that matter, how teaching and learning should take place, comes from their meagre experience of having taught somewhere between their MA and Civil Superior Services exams."

She says, "Hywel Coleman, in a British Council report in 2010, has outlined the English language policies since 1947 to now. It is off and on, depending on the whims of the powers that be -- without any spadework and planning. This is nothing but a recipe for disaster. The SC orders fall in the same category."

Sarwar points out that "research in language teaching and learning strongly supports the notion that initial education should be imparted in the mother tongue. It is a myth that young children learn a language better and more easily. For that to happen, a proper learning environment, appropriate materials, and correct model of a language is required."

She warns, "If children are introduced to faulty English in class 1 and study it the same way for 10 years, their English will not be better than what it is now."

So, what should be done to improve the English language teaching? Sarwar says, it is important to accept that language teaching -- whether it is English or Urdu -- is a technical skill. "Just an MA in English and Urdu is not enough for teaching it effectively. And if we want success, then the focus should be training teachers in this technical skill. That is the key."

She believes, "No doubt, it is a challenge to train such a humongous number of teachers, but it can be done. It may require thinking out of the box, and looking for unorthodox ways of handling training."

In this day and age of magical technology, she says, "there are possibilities unlimited. Unfortunately, because of the ill-informed bureaucrats, the will to take up this challenge is missing at the government level."

Realising that Urdu teachers need as much support as English teachers, SPELT has added an Urdu strand to its conference (due on Nov 7 and 8 in Karachi) to explore the possibilities of teaching Urdu more effectively. The only solution for the problem of teaching English or Urdu is the formulation of an effective policy starting from the beginners to the advanced level, development of appropriate materials accompanied with modern techniques of teaching and learning, and of course trained teachers to implement the plan.

The British Council report also highlights that just three per cent of Pakistan’s student population has access to private schools, imparting proper English language while the rest of the 97 per cent are at the mercy of public schools with no paraphernalia to teach them in English.

"In 2009, the Government of Punjab introduced English as the medium of instruction in mathematics and science in Punjab’s public schools from grades 1 to 12. Implementing a policy of English medium at a primary school level supports the education system as higher education and the majority of worldwide research and academic knowledge is in English," the report says.

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A survey by the British Council of more than 2000 school teachers in the backdrop of this policy found that 62 per cent of private school teachers and 56 per cent of government school teachers lack even basic knowledge of English, including the ability to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and simple phrases.

Most of the remaining teachers received scores that placed them at the beginners’ level in English. In all, 94 per cent of teachers in English medium schools have only pre-intermediate level English or lower.

Younger teachers had a much higher level of English than their older colleagues. 24 per cent of teachers aged 21-35 scored in the pre-intermediate and intermediate categories, compared with just 7 per cent of those aged 51 and over.

Shaista Sirajuddin, professor of English literature at the Punjab University with a 50 years of experience of teaching, also terms the orders of SC a politically ill judgment. She says, "Now English has become an international language. It is no longer a hangover of the colonial period," and still, "we are treating English as an orphan language. English is treated as a step child but we cannot survive without it too. We are a nation which is incapable of accepting the 21st century realities."

Recalling the moments from history after the making of Pakistan when in a speech in Bengal, Jinnah said that Urdu would be the national language, she says, "We have not learnt any lessons from the past. We have become a strange kind of tongue-less nation which is not proficient in any language."

She laments that in her five decades of experience of teaching she has seen that younger generations have no expertise in any language because of such policies. "Even English is not satisfactory."  She strongly advocates for teaching English language and literature thoroughly at the school and college level. "We have not done enough translations in English too," she says.