Lost in translation: With new medium of instruction, teachers fear students may not keep up

Educators concerned their own abilities will fall short.

PESHAWAR:

While access to education remains a problem, the Elementary and Secondary Education department has decided to create one more obstacle – a short-notice decision to teach general sciences and mathematics in English instead of Urdu.

Primary school teachers in the province are unhappy about the department’s decision earlier this month to change the medium of education from nursery to class five. Representative teachers’ associations were not consulted and this will be put into practice starting mid-April, when the new academic session begins. Educators are not only concerned about the difficulties students will face when the rather abrupt switchover takes place, but they are also worried their own abilities will fall short.

All Primary Teachers Association (APTA) Provincial President Malik Khalid Khan termed the move a “good initiative” by the elementary and secondary education department. However, he said the new course should only apply for children starting nursery this year. “A student of class three who has to switch from Urdu to English in class four would be very worried and will not be able to cope.”

Khalid Khan said teachers from the provincial capital will manage the new course because there are a number of qualified teachers at the primary school level. But those working in Shangla, Kohistan, Torghar, Buner, Upper Dir, and other areas where many instructors only hold Matriculation qualifications – often in the medium of Urdu– will not be able to teach students in English without proper instruction themselves.

A girls primary school teacher in Mardan agreed the sudden change is difficult for primary school educators. She said general science, Pakistan studies, mathematics and other subjects will now be taught in English.

Reiterating Khalid’s concerns, she asked how students who studied in Urdu in grade two or three will be capable of learning in English in the next class. “Most of the teachers are untrained and they do not know how to teach in English properly. This will directly affect results of both children and teachers.”

Irshad Khan, a primary schoolteacher in Peshawar, said the education department should first provide training in the respective subjects and then implement the policy accordingly. In step with the other educators who spoke to The Express Tribune, Irshad agreed the idea to change the curriculum is not a bad one, but must come hand-in-hand with two essentials: teacher training and making the medium of instruction English since nursery.

Across the province, some of the teachers and students expected to roll over to this new curriculum do not even have the basic necessities a school is expected to provide; boundary walls, blackboards and in many cases, a roof over their head. Although K-P has produced replacement books for the subjects in English, no one has clarified how all government schools will have access to them or how they will be able to understand the textbooks. Directorate of Curriculum and Teachers Education (DCTE), Deputy Director Faridullah Khan said at the moment, they have decided to teach only two subjects in English.

Under the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) project, DCTE has trained 73,000 teachers in four subjects and the remaining will also be trained, said Fariullah. On paper, there are 130,000 teachers working in the province. The rationale behind teaching in English lies in pronunciation. According to Faridullah, there are words and terms in mathematics and general science which are not properly enunciated in Urdu or Pashto and these languages do not provide substitute jargon.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.