Primary learning: ‘Children should be taught in their mother tongue first’

Language is innate, teaching children in other languages at primary level hampers learning.

KARACHI:

According to Zubeida Mustafa, a former assistant editor at daily Dawn and the author of a book on the subject, we tend to take many aspects of language for granted and that is where the problem begins. “Language is not like math, science or geography,” she said. “It is an innate faculty that every human is born with and has to be developed from birth.”

Mustafa was talking at Aga Khan University on behalf of its Institute for Educational Development on Friday. Her talk was titled “Language in primary education and its implications for the education system.”

The author of “Tyranny of Language in Education” argued that language has been an issue in Pakistan since the day it was born. The creation of Bangladesh was also partly because of a language conflict. Even today, she said, only 7% of the people are Urdu speaking but 75% use Urdu as their second language.

She stressed that a mother tongue should be used to teach children before any other language is introduced to them. “Teaching a child in another language at the primary level hampers the learning process,” said Mustafa. “It also slows down mental development and negatively affects personality, confidence and the cultural identity of the child.” The second language should be introduced when the children are slightly older.

Mustafa said that the failure to understand creates the distortions in our education system. The initial learning produces optimum results only if a child studies in the mother tongue. “But historical, social and economic factors have created a situation where we are teaching our children in English,” she said. “It has become synonymous with good education and the key to academic success.” She asserted that besides training teachers, reforming curricular and revising textbooks, the approach towards education needs to be improved.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2011.