Abstract
Pakistan is a linguistically rich nation where seventy two languages are spoken. Language
research shows that children should learn as many languages as possible, which increases the
grey matter of the brain and makes them more intelligent. However, it is impossible to teach
all languages of Pakistan by including them in the National Curriculum. By virtue of the
Constitution of Pakistan, Urdu and English are the national languages. Recently, in September
2015, the Supreme Court passed a ruling by which Urdu also became the official language of
Pakistan. In this regard, a focus should be placed in making children bilingual in at least these
two languages, goal not achieved until now. Besides, so that the provincial language legacy
does not get lost, an effort should be made to ensure the teaching of the provincial languages
(Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi at least) at primary and secondary schools in all the
schools of the country, public or private. This research is a proposal based on a previously
empirically tested linguistic model. The main purpose is to achieve bilingual citizens (if not
multilingual) who are able to speak the national languages, as well as their provincial
languages, at a native level and be proficient in speaking, listening, reading and writing, in
order to ensure continuity of the rich linguistic legacy of the most important languages of
Pakistan.
María Isabel Maldonado García. (2015) Reforming the National Curriculum: Teaching the National and Provincial Languages of Pakistan, Journal of Elementary Education, Volume-25, Issue-2.
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