Uniform education system: Ten years to go before Grade 10 is taught in English

Education minister says medium of instruction will be changed in phases.

PESHAWAR: The process of changing the medium of instruction to English in public schools may take around 10 years, said officials familiar with the matter.

Countless questions surfaced after Chief Minister Parvez Khattak announced that the medium of instruction will be changed from Urdu to English in all government-run schools next year. The move is seen as the government’s effort to offer equal educational opportunities for students in the province.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has frequently expressed the need to ensure students of state-run schools are brought at par with students of private schools.

However, experts say there are many hurdles in the process and it will take around 10 years to change the whole setup. The major obstacles in implementing the policy are getting trained teaching staff and reducing absenteeism.



A former director of the education department, who hesitated to share his name, said there are a number of problems that would prevent the policy from being implemented. Teachers lack commitment and are mostly absent from class even when they are in school.

“Experienced teachers come late to class and leave early. The government needs to train teachers, who in turn need to be committed to the profession,” he said, adding: “One should not expect students to learn anything in a ten-minute class.”

“Until headmasters are given the authority to hire and fire teachers, things can never be changed since the head of the school knows more about the staff than the chief minister, the education minister and even Imran Khan,” said the retired official.



Minister for Education Muhammad Atif said they are going to switch to English from next year and the medium of instruction will be changed from grade one. “It will take time, but we have planned to make the change in phases.”

Atif made it clear once students of Grade 1 are promoted to Grade 2, the old syllabus will be replaced for newcomers, adding students will be introduced to the new medium (English) with every new class and things will change slowly and gradually up till matriculation.

“Yes, it will take 10 years. But I think taking 10 years to build a nation is not a big deal,” said Atif. He said the changes being brought in are a step towards realising Imran’s dream of equal educational opportunities.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2013.