Languages in Education: Improving Schooling Outcomes for Poverty Reduction in Pakistan

The policy brief provides insight on how language configuration and learning of languages in government schools impact the ability of students to participate and achieve empowerment. Qualitative study conducted in provinces of Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan highlights that language plays a mediating role in education and therefore teaching must be done in local and dominant languages so that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are granted empowerment. The paper highlights that teaching and learning of languages is significantly poor in government schools that prevent the students from exploiting opportunities and realizing the transformative benefits of education in alleviating poverty.

The paper places emphasis on teacher training within government schools whereby training must be conducted pre and in-service in order to provide class and linguistic sensitization and learning support must also be provided outside school environment through various channels of communication. On one hand, curriculum must be designed to ensure smooth and gradual transition from local languages to dominant language namely English and on the other hand local languages status must be enhanced by designing a wider language policy. Special support classes must be provided to students that have little or no prior knowledge of English language. The policy concludes that capability approach framework must be implemented through qualitative studies in order to understand the issues of inequality and social injustice that are deep-rooted within the structure of the society.