Efficacy of bilingual and multilingual education in Pakistan

Questions

1. 
   Is it possible to propose a bilingual or multilingual system of education in public and private schools of Sargodha in a subtle way?
   
2. 
   In a linguistically diverse country like Pakistan, would it be possible to implement a multilingual educational policy to deal with the communicative competence?
   
3. 
   What is the influence of static, monolingual education system on the indigenous languages of Pakistan?
   

Aim of study

The idea behind this study is to devise a bilingual or multilingual education system regarding the public and private schools of Pakistan also keeping in view the practical applications and requirements of the proposed system. This paper will find out if a bilingual education system can effectively be implemented and run in a culturally diverse society like Pakistan which is linguistically rich as well.

Significance of study

As mentioned earlier, Pakistan is a multilingual and multicultural society where almost 0 languages are spoken. Despite this reality, the whole system is based on two main languages which are Urdu and English. The instructors in governmental institutions are more likely to rely on Urdu as a medium of instruction however the non-public schools emphasize more upon English. As for as 90% population of Pakistan is concerned, they do not have English or Urdu as their native languages and students are not at ease to comprehend the instructions properly. This Research indicates that the students who are exposed to multilingual mode of instruction in schools have better conceptual grip, comprehension capabilities and cognitive development rather the students who are given the primary fundamental education in the second or third language.

Literature Review
People who speak two languages are called bilinguals. Sometimes the term is also used for students learning other languages implemented by government. UNESCO glorify 21^st February called to be an international mother language day in 1999. By using qualitative research method (Farhan 2014) how the mother tongue or native language serves as the best medium of instruction and this will produce a level of understanding and creativity in the students. Moreover In his research he observed Bilingual teaching will benefit Pakistani classrooms as Pakistan is a multilingual society where peoples speak more than one language. Since 1947 there is always a controversy between the English languages on Pakistani people. No doubt English is a language of power knowledge and research but did not ignore our native language as like Urdu in which both the students and teachers feel comfortable.
Working on a linguistic diversity (Chum bow 2009) he explains it is norm to speak two or more languages except for those who can speak one language. There is nothing wrong with speaking one or more language as it becomes a norm of our society like Pakistan in which people speak Urdu, Sindhi, Balochi and Pashto but they also learn English as this is the need of the present time. But as we know maximum people are able to speak Urdu as Pakistan’s national language then medium of instruction at primary level must be native language as it enhances the capability of students to learn the things in positive way. Furthermore, by comparing capability of a monolingual and bilingual student in many cases the bilingual students will be more efficient as researcher said. “Assures that the bilinguals are innovative in nature” (Baker 2003).
(National Institute of Health 2012) Research on monolingual and bilingual children to check the cognitive ability by verbal and non verbal tests. Bilingual children performed better than their monolingual peers in almost all tests including nonverbal intelligence. There were four groups included in this research monolingual (who are efficient in English), Chinese-English bilingual, French-English and Spanish-English Bilingual. There were 104 students 6 years old taken for this task in verbal test grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, linguistic task such as forming plurals, structure of words were tested out. In vocabulary monolingual score higher than all other groups and Spanish bilingual students were on second higher position moreover in switching task all were same but monolingual group does not switch task rapidly. In meta linguistic tasks such as forming plurals, structure of words and grammar understanding the Spanish English bilingual were on the top because they attend the English classes so the researcher bilingual education had a great affect on the cognitive ability of the students as Spanish English bilingual were more efficient than all the other monolingual and bilingual groups Because of Spanish and English similarity and also student attend the English classes so by this they got advantage and performed all the task more efficiently.
Kessler and Quinn recommended in his research to allow bilingual course developed from the perspective of two languages to enhance the positive interaction between cognitive function and the language development. The development of any county depends heavily on the language spoken in it and language polices play an important role in it but there is an absence of additive language policy (Kessler and Quinn 1980). Additive language policy is such kind of policy that supports the development of native language and also the other languages that are being learned at the same time. In Pakistan language policies are changed with the change of government .As Mehboob and Jain explain in their research that Pakistan multilingual society does not have clearly defined language policy (Mehboob and Jain 2017).
Policy maker of Pakistan always ignore the difference of status and languages used by the people there is always a politics behind the changing of language policy .Rubin and Jernuude emphasize that the Language planning is deliberate but always private there is often change in the language policy by its maker but always sport to monolingual policies in a country which is multilingual this will league to ethno linguistic group (Rubin and Jernuude). Channa et.all explain that from the many years the decision made by policy maker inspired the ethno linguistic conflicts between those groups as they were pre occupied with Urdu and by Islamic spirit. (Channa et.all)
Moreover, working on the prospects and challenges of dynamic bilingual education in Pakistan, Ameer Ali clearly explains that how the subtractive or destructive language policy the negative behavior of students and the power of elite are challenges for dynamic bilingual education. (Ameer Ali 2020). A subtractive language policy does not support the native language rather it replace it with the language of school. By qualitative research method it is seen that due to lack of low budget at primary level common people does not get such level of education as the rich children of rich people get education in elites schools system in which there is focus on all the kinds of education specifically they focus on the English and its use in communication this is all due to lack of inadequate language policy and limited resources (Raja 2014). Moreover at the primary level teacher are not much efficient to develop skills and to promote the bilingual education system students from government sector get education in local language but when they came to university they faced English and then the level of competence and understanding the things become very much difficult so Pakistani policy maker should focus on this type of issue and also promote the bilingual and multilingual education at all the levels. For many of the policy makers bilingual education has not only become the important priority at the university level but it also becomes an essential part at the preuniversity level (Zakharia 2017). By focusing on the multilingual education many researchers claim that the global use of multiple languages ​​is the norm, and a single language is the exception. So that it is necessary to determine the advantages of using multiple languages ​​and use them for personal growth and national development. (Chum bow 2009)
It is suggested that an effective multilingual policy can solve socioeconomic and educational issues related to language, the needs and interest of different language groups and become a means of promoting social cohesion. As the main focus is the efficacy of bilingual and multilingual at primary level. Mehboob and Jain conclude by their research that the use of mother tongue in the early stages of education is beneficial and believe that multilingual education is more effective for educated children. (Mehboob and Jain 2016)
By focusing on the bilingual and multilingual education many psychologist and researcher describes the advantage of bilingual and multilingual education.
Kolb found that using multiple languages ​​is a social and cultural benefit, which allows connecting with people. This is especially evident in social environments that require proficiency in a foreign language to communicate effectively with other native speakers, and the use of multiple languages ​​is usually related to promoting a better understanding of other cultures (Kolb 2012). Moreover, Berdan also stated that multilingual speakers not only have advantages in social communication, but also have a better understanding of foreign experience, history and society, thereby gaining a more comprehensive perspective of multiculturalism (Berdan 2014).
Multilingual mode of instruction is necessary for political significance, because Simire found that multilingualism ensures political outreach in linguistically diverse countries, especially for people who are easily isolated by language (Simire 2003). Furthermore, the use of multiple languages ​​is closely related to profit and productivity, and should be regarded as a powerful economic tool. As research said that the cognitive ability is and communication level is increased by the bilingualism and multilingualism so profit and productivity can be relate to this. Additionally Nouri et all shared that the use of multiple languages ​​will lead to increase episodic memory and semantic memory for all age groups (Nouri et all. 2003).

Keeping in view all the previous studies we can see there has left so many gaps in educational policies of Pakistan. To overcome these lacks researchers and the policy makers in authorities should conduct qualitative as well as quantitative researches. This step would declare the problems and help the policy makers to find the adequate solutions.