Education and Development: Urdu, English and Pakistan

Posted on May 23, 2007
Filed Under >Pervaiz Munir Alvi, Culture & Heritage, Economy & Development, Education, Society, Urdu
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Pervaiz Munir Alvi

Pakistan is blessed with number of beautiful regional languages and language-based local sub-cultures. This diversification along with many other regional nuances and historical developments has given Pakistan its colorful and interesting overall national culture. On lingual side, in addition to its regional languages, Pakistan also has Urdu as its national language and English as an official language.

Normally having a singular national language would generate a cohesive nation capable of conducting open dialog on any subject of national importance. Also having a singular official language will open doors of opportunity equally to all regardless of their own regional language.

But in Pakistan that is not the case.

During a time of any region-based national controversy Pakistanis from various parts of the country are just not capable of opening up an amicable national dialog. Also not all graduating students have equal opportunities of advancement in their chosen fields. This lack of open and free communication between people of various parts of the country contributes towards regional tensions and misunderstandings. The lack of equal opportunities of advancement creates resentment. There is need to understand reasons behind these national deficits.

While the regional languages of Pakistan are centuries old and are rooted in the soil of their respective areas, Urdu is a relatively younger language that had initially emerged more as a necessity than as a result of an organic process. Similarly Pakistan inherited English from its latest colonial past and has retained it for the convenience of the officialdom. However both Urdu and English have been under-utilized in Pakistan as tools for mass communication, national integration and economic advancement.

The birth of Urdu coincides with the arrival of Muslims in the area. Muslims of Arab origin first arrived in Southern Pakistan in the eighth century. Later in the eleventh and consecutive centuries arrived Muslims of neighboring Persia and Turkic Central Asia. Each one of these three new arriving groups brought their own languages and cultures with them. The result was that not only most of the locals converted to the religion of the new arrivals, they also took in many words and phrases of the languages of the new comers into their own regional languages. Urdu language and Pakistani culture is a direct result of this synthesis that took place over a prolonged historical period.

Muslim rulers held their courts first in Arabic, then in Turkish and finally in Persian language while Urdu over the period developed as a non-official language in the shadow of other three consecutive official languages. However the end of a central Muslim authority in the beginning of the eighteenth century also saw the end of Persian as the official language. For the next one hundred years, in the absence of a central authority, each local government conducted its official business in a language it saw fit. Things however changed when in the mid nineteenth century British took over the areas that would later constitute Pakistan. British installed English as the official language while encouraged use of Urdu as a medium of instruction for the Muslims. At the independence of Pakistan in 1947, while the official business continued to be held in English, Urdu was adopted as the national language of the new state.

Today each region of Pakistan, at various levels, operates in three and some times in four languages. First each region has its own regional language as language of every day communication; then Urdu as the language of instructions in official schools and English as language of official business and language of instruction in the private schools; and finally Arabic as language of learning and performing Islamic religious rituals. One would imagine that after sixty years of official patronage of Urdu and English all Pakistanis, regardless of their own regional language, would be able to communicate with each other freely in one or two languages; all educated Pakistanis will have equal opportunities of learning and advancement. But that is not the case.

The main reason for this deficit is the lack of universally available education and unequal educational systems. Since at the national level only two-thirds of the children enter school and only half of them reach middle school level, the possibility of the entire nation learning Urdu and being able to communicate with each other at the national level is only limited. Also since instructions in English are available to only lucky few, not every student is able to enter into the fields of science, technology and administration which have created further economic stratification and social alienation. It is to be realized that members of a nation who are not able to freely communicate with each other are unable to develop a national dialog and forge a national thought on any subject of national significance. Also not being able to function effectively in the official language of the country virtually shuts down all doors of personal and economic advancements for most.

Not being able to read, write or even speak ones national language is a national tragedy. To have doors of opportunity open to select few is unjust. And that in essence is one of the many problems of Pakistan.

18 responses to “Education and Development: Urdu, English and Pakistan”

  1. Watan Aziz says:

    And only when the proponents give up the fixed position of Urdu in its structure, does Urdu become what they have always desired Urdu to be, a national language!

    Go “Lashkari-Urdu”!

  2. Watan Aziz says:

    I have given my idea more thought.

    And frankly, I like it!

    Urdu in Back to the Future, morphs into “Lashkari” all over again.

    The evolution of Urdu was always a bridge language. Hand it to the folks who evolved it first and then gave it the grammar and the rules.

    Then came the few generations who wanted to make it standstill language. The great poets and prose writers.

    And then came along the generations who wanted it for the national language in Pakistan. Here Urdu and the untenable demands for Urdu as a national language went off the rails. And has not gotten back on the rails as yet.

    Strangely, in the same time period, Urdu went heavy in borrowing loan words from English. And now with even more recent advent of “Urdulish” and “Engdu”, even in Urdu newspapers, it is hard to tell where Urdu ends and English begins, at least amongst the “git-pit” folks. Pick a news paper of today and compare it with any from earliest days and you will know exactly what I am talking about.

    And thus, it has remained, as PMA points out, the language of the “git-pit” (if anyone is not familar with this term, well, the closest translation can be yuppies, but not exactly). The urbane, the suave, the cultural elite. But this is a fake position. Urdu was never that. It was language of the common folks who made the system work.

    So, the proposal is simple.

    Urdu moves along, one more time to for the greater good of Pakistan and starts to absorb (and get absorbed) regional languages. Each linguist area at first could possibly start the process in it’s own area until the medium of education moves from pure “khalis” Urdu to the kind of Urdu-Punjabi already spoken in Lahore. The difference will be that it will move from spoke to a written language in newspapers, official transcirpts, and text books.

    Really, this exists as spoken language in Lahore and urban centers of Punjab, except that you will not see it Urdu newspapers, etc.

    The process is as simple as getting it out there in print. In text books, newspapers and official transcripts. And this process can start tomorrow! In each of the regional areas, the entire setup exists. It is mind over matter!

    The spill zones (areas joining each linguistic area) will become the bridge zones for the larger, newer and richer vocabulary of Urdu.

    And lo and behold, the Urdu will fix the Pakistani problem of mass education in a diversified land of many languages. And with accurate transliteration standards, Urdu can move to be easily taught to those who do not know the script of Urdu. And in all of this, I am thinking of Google translate which will also continue to imporve.

    More and more books in this “Lashkari Urdu” will get translated and made available. More and more population centers will adopt it. It might even solve the problems of the whole region as other joining nations just might get on the bandwagon of this great “Laskkari Urdu”.

    Sometimes the idea is so simple, it makes sense.

    I have been thinking about this all day and and as I type, I am getting even more excited about this.

    If Urdu can borrow words from English then what forbids it to borrow words from regional languages? We are not snobs. Are we?

    I am not sure if anyone else has suggested it, since Pakistan is has amazing number of problem solvers, but if not, here it is. I am sure others can make it better.

    Really, all we have to do is to let Urdu be what it always was. A dynamic and fluid language, fired up and ready to go.

    Yes, it will shock the conscious of a few to hear and see, but then, that is exactly what it was for generations that preceded us.

    Go “Lashkari-Urdu”!

  3. Watan Aziz says:

    The main reason for this deficit is the lack of universally available education and unequal educational systems.

    Correct.

    …instructions in English are available to only lucky few…

    Correct.

    It is to be realized that members of a nation who are not able to freely communicate with each other are unable to develop a national dialog and forge a national thought on any subject of national significance.

    This is a false truth. People who speak the same language just as well might not be able to develop a national dialog and forge a national thought on any subject of national significance.

    Not being able to read, write or even speak ones national language is a national tragedy.

    This is also a false truth. By artificially creating a national or an official language, one cannot create a straw man’s argument and then proceed to call it a national tragedy.

    All languages of Pakistan need to move to an official and national status. They are natural and organic to the soil. The good news is that all languages share the common script, and some common root words as well.

    We should build on it. Maybe evolve Urdu one more time to include the regional languages. Who says that Urdu should be standstill. After all, it continues to accept English words as standard Urdu words. Our Urdu newspapers are chock-full of English words.

    Frankly, 50/50 demonstrated that Sultan Rahi’s body language speaks volumes and conveys the same meaning in English or Punjabi. And BTW, “aiDdhir aAA” in Punjabi sounds much better than “idHir aAiyan”.

    And may I proffer, by moving Urdu to the regional languages, the bridge will be built much faster. The national dialogue you seek, will happen. It will actually require the Urdu speakers to adapt and to adopt the regional languages and blend them back into Urdu as standard words.

    Children are amazing learners. I think it is about time that if the child is speaking “pani” at home, we do not need to drown the child in “aAb” of schooling. Has anyone considered that the dropout rate may be directly related to the irrelevance of the education?

    Education should be the goal. Not a language. Not as medium. Equity and Justice should be the end; and if someone will get it by speaking Hindko, then so be it. An imperfect petition, in language of petitioner should not be the basis of denial of justice.

    For the inconvenience of a few, educated “bau”, the majority of the population should not suffer.

    PMA, excellent article. Great observations. Wrong conclusions. Nothing wrong with that. Our national dialog continues.

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