Home Journal List Putaj Humanities And Social Science Volume-23 Article Details

Communication and Language Policy in Pakistan

Abstract

Communication and language policies have far-reaching educational, economic, and political effects. In multiethnic countries, like Pakistan, language policies can determine who has access to schools, who has opportunities for economic advancement, who participates in political decisions and who has access to jobs. In Pakistan, Urdu language has been given the status of the national language whereas English is the official language. In a country where more than 35 languages are spoken, privileging two languages over indigenous language can marginalize people whose mother-tongues are other than Urdu and English or who cannot speak these two languages. This paper critically analyses the communication and language policy of the government of Pakistan. Through the case studies of the government of Pakistan’s 2009 educational policy and the media system in Pakistan, the authors explore how the current language policy further marginalize the already less-privileged ethnic groups in the smaller provinces. The authors argue that the problematic language policy curtails the cultural advancement of the indigenous groups, and deprives them of economic, political, and social opportunities. The authors recommend that government should give official status to the indigenous or native languages of Pakistan, and promote those languages by making them a part of the educational system and popular culture.

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