This is in response to the article “My education, my language” which was published on 18 April, 2012. I strongly agree with the writer that education acquired in early years has to be in one’s first language.
The reasons behind receiving education in the first language is that in early years the class room setting needs to be friendly and comfortable, and if the language used in the classroom is not familiar to the child consequently a child might feel uncomfortable and often lose confidence and eventually it would affect the child holistically.
Secondly, this strongly neglects the essence of development appropriate for the children at the age of 3 to 5, which means it culturally appropriates the children who are still in the phase of learning their primary language. As Bowman (1989) points out, “Learning a primary language is a developmental milestone for young children and is, therefore, a developmentally appropriate’ educational objective.” Similarly, when the child has to study English language which isn’t in the part of their daily environment, it’s like a hurdle for the young mind. The primary language of children is often used when they are socialized in their home and community as well. The experiences the child gets in early years constructs his personality. A difference in school and home culture affects the child’s holistic development and this should be tackled and dealt quickly. Moreover we should preserve our heritage and cultural languages are a part of our identity.
The article enlightens us that there are some organizations which are working for this purpose continuously. The Ministry of Education in Pakistan is kindly requested to enforce certain policies that should be strictly followed. Policies such as the medium of interaction should be bilingual in early year setting. Secondly, the child should have the liberty to express himself in either language. Thirdly the children going through formal assessment should have the liberty to use either of the languages they are comfortable in.
For instance, English language is not common especially in the northern-western province then this is inappropriate medium for the child coming from a social background where English is not spoken at all. Large number of children in different schools in our country is forced to study in English. The language which is not understood by them is meaningless and in this case no learning takes place, because children are not familiar with the vocabulary as well. The National Curriculum says that our objective of education is to make children sophisticated which will be helpful to the country and themselves in future.
No doubt the value of English as an international language remains important, but then it isn’t developmentally appropriate for the early learners. Children should be given more exposure to the English language until they are able to express themselves easily in this language. When the mode of teaching is English which is opposite to a child’s environment makes him/her feel disconnected in the classroom which affects his social domain which makes it more difficult in communicating with peers. This affects his emotional domain as the child is not able to express and understand himself and also lacks confidence and which may also affect his morale.
FATIMA KADHIM
Karachi