Why is Pakistan resisting the English language?

We must free ourselves from clutches and not become like ones who paid no heed to the call of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, eventually creating a barrier, keeping us from the path to success and an age of enlightenment that awaits

Pakistan is a diverse country with 74 different languages containing a beauty of their own. People from various backgrounds all perform the art of expression with a language linked to a specific culture. Every word spoken gives the listener an insight into a culture’s past and its path towards progress. The sweetness of a word formed delicately, fusing itself with Persian, gives birth to the rich language of Urdu. It’s true, mastering your mother tongue should be of utmost importance, but what does one do when that isn’t the language that rules the continents.

It’s an undeniable fact that Pakistan is a struggling country disconnected from its roots. Its people are desperately following the footprints that lead to a dead-end, a portal of mere illusions, a locked door only open for ones with jewels of a firm foundation dangling around their necks.

Years ago, with the rise of private educational institutions, our people had developed an obsession for English as it was the newest trend. An individual with the fanciest accent gained enough numbers to survive in a pandemic of class difference. Fine schools with clean walls, expensive-looking classrooms with projectors, well-spoken teachers, woollen skirts, and a strict principal with confused morals were enough to win over the hearts of a deprived generation working two jobs for their children. It appeared as we were trying to become the people who invaded a land shared by millions in 1857.

To stand a chance against the world’s shifting demands, we’re well trained on how to become something we’re not. Every country seems to stand on a strange foundation. Every individual breathes beneath the shelter of an invader, and to please the tyrant mimics what it is shown. Through my lens, forcing a language or stripping away one’s right to learn a new one is similar to what’s mentioned above. In Pakistan’s history of a fragile educational base, the recent years are considered to be the worst so far due to COVID and weak strategies formed by people who have nothing to do with the concerned department. A new discussion arises daily with no solid ground for support. I’d like to highlight specific issues and stick to the point. The recent proposal of implementing a full use of the national language has its positive aspects because it’s important to stay connected to your roots. However, from a different view, this could also result in a complete disaster for the students on an international basis. English is considered a universal language, and almost every individual knows enough to get by. This is a language used in each existing subject and field.

To explain a point further, I’ll share a personal experience. Local colleges teach most science-related subjects in Urdu, which happens to be excellent for the students who can comprehend the tough scientific words or are willing to master the subject. What if I tell you that a handful of them are aware of the sudden switch of language when the concerned subjects become their majors while the rest remain enthusiastic to learn more.

There are countless students with plans to travel, ideas to build a stable life with the knowledge stored away in their brilliant minds. According to multiple pieces of research, the benefits of a bilingual brain are endless, with infinite doors waiting to be unlocked. Taking this liberty with the youth would cause major hindrances and the idea of this nation rising to become great would be a mere mirage. We need a firm ground to practice the required languages to survive on this globe and grow into a magnificent civilization. Eliminating a highly crucial language as an act of resistance is utterly foolish. Our mother tongue is supposed to strengthen the core, while the foreign one would carve itself into a shield to protect our exterior. No act of resistance can take away the importance of something crucial.

Our government needs to cater to the demands of the developing world. It’s valuable that we lose the obsession with a certain thing and explore the depths of diverse languages instead, Urdu being among them. We must free ourselves from the clutches and not become like the ones who paid no heed to the call of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, eventually creating a barrier, keeping us from the path to success and an age of enlightenment that awaits.