Pakistan
Summary
Pakistan is a multilingual country with six major and over 57 minor languages. The major mother tongues are: Punjabi (44%); Pashto (15%); Sindhi (14%); Siraiki (11%); Urdu (8%); Balochi (4%) and minor languages (5%). Urdu, Sindhi and English are the national and official language. Urdu is widely used as a second language in urban Pakistan because it is the medium of instruction in most government schools and religious seminaries. It is also used in colleges and universities to teach all except scientific and technical subjects. Urdu is the language of the medium, the lower official domains, commerce and entertainment, and thus it is more useful for employment than any other Pakistani language.
The only other language which is useful for employment, though only at the lower levels and then only in parts of Sindhi, is Sindhi, which is also used in education, the medium and some official domains. Pashto is used as medium of instruction in some schools up to Grade 5, but is not used in most other domains. Only about 2 percent of Pakistanis speak English competently. Though an additional 15 to 18 percent may have some knowledge of it, it is the language of all elite domains of power. According to MLE mapping exercise, there are both formal and non-formal classrooms using nine (9) non-dominant languages in private and public schools. Some of these NDLs are being used as a language of instruction. It is likely that this information does not fully reflect the use of NDLs in Pakistan.
| Name of Organization/ Institution | Level of Schooling | Formal or Non-formal | Public or Private | Which Languages | Number of Children reached by level of schooling | Location | Use of language in classroom (chooese 1-7, see below) | Materials in classroom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gawri Community Development Programme | 2-years pre-schooling, with primary 1 | NFE | PRI | Kalami (gwc), Urdu (urd) | 88 | District Swat in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa | Gawri (Gawri, then transition into Urdu in year-2) | Yes |
| Anjuman Taraqi-e Palula | 2-years pre-schooling, with primary 1 | NFE | PRI | Phalura (phl), Urdu (urd) | 45 | District Chitral in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa | Palula (Palula, then transition into Urdu in year-2) | Yes |
| Torweali: Idara Bara-e Raleem-o-Taraqi (IBT) | 2-years pre-schooling, with primary 1 | NFE | PRI | Torwali (trw), Urdu (urd) | 36 | District Swat in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa | 2 (Towali) | Yes |
| Balochi Language & Literacy Organization | PP | NFE | PRI | Southern Balochi (bcc) | 600+ | Karachi, Sindh | 2 | Yes |
| Parkari Community Development Programme | Up to Primary grade 5 | NFE | PRI | Parkari (kvx), Sindhi (snd), Urdu (urd) | Thousands | Tharparker in Sindh province | 2 (Parkari) | Yes |
| Bakarwal Mobile Schools | PP, PR (varies depending on qualification level of instructors) | NFE (but officially recognized at the PR level via registration of flagship school) | PRI | Gujari (gju), Urdu (urd), English (eng) | 400 at PP level, 100 at PR level. 55% female, 45% male | Mansehra Batagram, Haripur, Attock, Khanpur, Jhelum, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, Fatahjang, Mardan (seasonal in Kaghan, Swat, Gilgit, Yes Astore) | 2 (Gojri as Mode of Instruction, oral and written) | Yes |
| Sindhi (It is run by the education department of the Sindh province) | Up to class 10 | FE | PUB | Sindhi (snd), Urdu (urd) | Thousands | Whole Sindh province | Sindhi (Mode of Instruction), oral written Urdu oral and written English oral and written | Yes |
| Community Based School (CBS), Government primary school, Greek Volunteers | PP | FE, NFE | PRI, PUB | Kalasha (kls), Urdu (urd) | 1,150 | District Chitral | Kalasha as Mode of Instruction, oral and written Urdu oral and written English oral and written | Yes |
| Pashto (It is run by the education department of KPK province) | Up to primary 5, after class 5 Pashto is used as elective subject | FE | PUB | Central Pashto (pst) | Thousands | 9 districts of Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa | Pashto as Mode of Instruction, oral, written Urdu oral and written English oral and written | Yes |
| KCDA | Tow Level the primary 5 primary 2 (PR) | FE or NFE | PRI | Kachchi (kfr), Sindhi (snd), Urdu (urd), Enlgish (eng) | There are 9 schools (9 Primary grade 5, total 3 schools with 47 Children & Primary grade 2, total 6 schools with 97 children) | Mirpurkhas and Tando Allahyar | Kachhi Mode of Instruction oral, written Sindhi oral and written Urdu oral and written English oral | Yes |
Explanations
Name of organisation / institution:
Give the name of the organisation(s) (NGO, local association, etc) or institution (church, pagoda, temple, university etc.) which is initiating and supporting the action. This can include government agencies and institutions. Please specify type of involvement, e.g. initiator, lead actor, funder and implementer.
Level of schooling:
Identify whether action is at the pre-primary level (PP) or at the primary /elementary level (PR). The mapping is focusing only on these two levels of education.
Formal or Non-formal:
Identify whether action is:
1. in the formal (FE) or non-formal (NFE); and
2. in the government education system (Govt) or outside the government system by non-state providers (NSP).
Public or private:
Identify whether the action is happening in the public education (PUB) system or private (PRI). If this does not apply to your country, write n/a.
Which language:
Give the name of the local or minority language(s) which the action includes. If possible, see your country’s section on the Ethnologue.com (http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp?place=Asia) and find the relevant 3-letter ISO language code for these languages.
Number of children:
Give the number of children reached by school level (pre-primary and primary/elementary). Please disaggregate by gender (i.e. M: and F:),
Location of action:
Give sub-national location of action(s) either province or district
Use of language in classroom:
Identify how language is used in the classroom by using the descriptors below. Choose the most appropriate one. You can choose more than one.
1. Language of instruction (LOI) is the learners’ mother tongue (MT or L1) and their second language (L2) .
2. Language of instruction is the mother tongue only.
3. The second language is officially the language of instruction.
4. Language of instruction is the second language with MT as subject.
5. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – officially.
6. Mother tongue is used orally, no written materials – unofficially.
7. Second language (L2) is taught as second language.
Materials in classroom:
Are there teaching and learning materials in MT in classroom? Yes or no. If yes, estimate the number of titles in MT.