No foreign languages, please

JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: There has been considerable discussion and debate in the media on Sindh government’s decision to make the teaching of Chinese mandatory from 2013 onwards for students of class VI and above. This brings into the spotlight the issue of whether school students need to be taught any foreign language. Readers will know that government schools in Sindh already require that their students learn Arabic. However, barring sales and semi-technical groups, most other professions in the Middle East use English as the language of communication. Even if Arabic has to be spoken, many Pakistanis pick up the language quite quickly, usually by conversing and interacting with Arabic-speaking colleagues.

It should be noted also that spoken Arabic, which varies from country to country, is entirely different from the standard textbook Arabic. Now to one of the main arguments put forward by those want students to learn Arabic in Pakistan — that it allows one to understand Quranic teachings better. This is also a non-starter because the language of the Holy Quran is classical Arabic and it is quite different from modern standard Arabic which is used in literary circles or government/official communications.

Therefore, it is not necessary that someone well-versed in textbook Arabic will be able to understand the Holy Quran in its entirety. In any case, we have a number of translations in English, Urdu (and in other local languages), which not only provide word-by-word meanings but also explain the background of each Surah/verse.

The fact of the matter is that students in Sindh are already burdened with having to learn three languages (English, Urdu and Sindhi) and so introducing Chinese is not going to achieve any productive result. Even the teaching of Arabic should be reviewed because it has little or no economic or practical value for the learner.

Masood Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2011.