Last week, I visited a school and saw the teacher was forcing a small child in kindergarten to speak only in English
KARACHI: In our country, the obsession with speaking in English language seems to be at an all-time high. Countries like Japan, China, Germany, Korea and Russia have all focused on the promotion of their local languages in order to progress. Development does not mean that everyone in the country has to be fluent in English. If we keep promoting the language of other countries, then the day is not far when we will forget our own culture along with our languages and will be following the culture of other countries. If I am not wrong, then we are already aping the culture of Western countries.
Last week, I visited a school and saw that the teacher was forcing a small child studying in kindergarten to speak only in English and was threatening the child with punishment if found speaking in Urdu. This attitude creates problems for children in expressing their feelings freely. We have to save our languages and culture. We should feel proud of them and think of them as part of our identity.
Yusra Aziz
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2015.
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