KARACHI, Jan 5: Contradicting the federal education ministry’s recently announced policy, a White Paper, obtained by Dawn, strongly recommends that the medium of instruction for the first three years of the child’s education should be the mother tongue. Prepared by a team set up by the federal education ministry under Javed Hasan Aly, a retired federal secretary, the White Paper titled “Education in Pakistan” is designed to debate and finalise the national education policy, which the government says is in the making.

The last policy was formulated by the Nawaz Sharif government and was designed to cover the period 1998 to 2010. The government says that this is being reviewed to reprioritise targets and ensure a conflict free society and a knowledge-based economy. The White Paper categorically states that it is intended to stimulate discussion of major policy issues concerning education and is not an official statement. But many of its recommendations run contrary to what the federal education minister has been saying. In fact some policy changes in the education policy have already been announced which might preempt the recommendations of the White Paper.

The language issue, which has always been an enigma in Pakistan, has been addressed boldly. Referring to the federal education ministry’s decision of declaring Urdu as the medium of instruction in the middle and secondary level for social sciences and English as the medium for mathematics and the natural sciences as “an experiment that has yet to take effect”, the White paper expresses the hope that this “solution does not appear simplistic in hindsight”.

It recommends that the medium of instruction up to Class-V be left to the provincial governments. But it categorically states that “the medium of instruction for the first three years of the child’s education should be the mother tongue wherever possible.” Where Urdu is not the medium of instruction it should be taught as a compulsory subject from Class-I. English should be introduced as a compulsory subject in all schools from Class-III starting with the year 2008 by when sufficient number of qualified and trained teachers be prepared.

From Class-VI onwards the medium of instruction should be Urdu for social sciences and English for mathematics and the natural sciences. The regional languages where desired by the provincial governments should be taught as a compulsory subject up to Class-VIII. The medium of instruction in higher education may be English.

Drawing heavily on the strong points of the 10 education policies that have been announced in Pakistan since 1947, the paper recognises the need for clearly articulating the ideological basis of Pakistan and the National Education Policy but emphatically states that it “should not impinge upon the pursuit of knowledge both for individual and social development…Dogma should not be allowed to malign the minds of the learners and the citizens of Pakistan must be provided full opportunity to realise their individual potentials”.

The White Paper defines the role of the federal government as that of “facilitator, coordinator and arbiter of conflicts”. The provincial government, it is suggested, should concern itself with textbook development, teacher training, college education, registration of private sector’s educational institutions and formulating policy guidelines for the district governments for service delivery. While emphasising the importance of investment in education, the paper laments the lack of capacity to make optimal use of financial resources. It calls for the establishment of institutional arrangements for programmes and project planning, monitoring and evaluation as a pre-condition for increased outlay for education. It states that while the government is committed to an investment of four per cent of the GDP in the education sector, the current capacity does not promise absorption of such an outlay immediately. The White Paper calls for this capacity to be developed in the next two years for the productive utilisation of the promised funds, which should go up in the next eight to ten years to six per cent of the GDP.

Identifying some areas of concern, the White Paper writes that monitoring and evaluation suffer from governance deficits and transparent monitoring processes have yet to reach the lowest level of governance. It specifically speaks of political interference and corruption that have had a “pernicious impact on education”. The “recruitment, transfers and postings of teachers are heavily influenced by political intervention. An oligarchy of a few reigns over the system and in combination with corrupt officials and their patrons they have held the whole system hostage”.

(Two more articles based on the White Paper will appear in Dawn on Sunday and Monday.)