One aspect of TIRF’s mission includes influencing language policies around the globe that have an impact on language education. More specifically, this part of our mission states that TIRF seeks “to influence the formation and implementation of appropriate language education policies, recognizing the importance of indigenous languages and cultures worldwide, and of English as an international language.”
In a post last year on our website, we detailed information about TIRF Trustees endorsing two policy statements, one of which is called the Lahore Declaration. Late last month, another dialogue was held in Lahore, Pakistan which involved discussions around language education policies in Pakistan.
What follows is an excerpt from an article that was published by a news agency in Pakistan called “The Nation.” This report was published on March 27, 2014. The full article can be found by clicking here.
Call to Bring Consistency in Education Policy by Arshad Bhatti, The Nation
LAHORE – Speakers at a policy dialogue titled “English language in Pakistan today: class, the workplace and the shift in language use” stressed the need for consistency in education policy to get better results.
The dialogue was organised by British Council here at a local hotel on Wednesday. British Council Director English Mussarrat Mashhadi presented the results of a research conducted by the council on the English teaching.
The focus of this policy dialogue was to engage educationists and language experts in an interactive discussion that would generate ideas and recommendations to feed into a more effective language policy.
The research shows that Pakistan is a country where English teaching is unevenly distributed and very much class based. People who can afford to go to private institutions have access to better learning material, authentic learning environments and well trained teachers which all encourage better English. In comparison poor and lower income families who do not have the means to send their children to these private expensive schools. [continue reading]