Monthly Archives: May 2011

Education facing ‘tyranny of language’

By Imtiaz Ali
Source: The News

Karachi
‘Be not the slave of words’ was the advice given by Scottish literary Thomas Carlyle over a century ago, and can be applied to Pakistan today with respect to language in education. Be not the slave of language or rather, be not under the tyranny of language, was the topic of discussion at Saturday’s launch of Zubeida Mustafa’s latest book “Tyranny of language in education, the problem and its solution”, at the Karachi Press Club.

During the event, speakers critiqued the dominance of the English language in Pakistan’s prevailing education system.

Senior journalist and writer Zubeida said that education essentially played the role of equaliser in terms of opportunities, but in Pakistan it was reinforcing the division of society.
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Book launch: ‘Teach children in their mother language, build their self-confidence’

By Mahnoor Sherazee
Source: Tribune

After extensive research and a great deal of groundwork, Mustafa launched her book ‘Tyranny of Language in Education: The Problem and its Solution’.

Author: Zubeida Mustafa. Photo Credit: Athar Khan / Express

KARACHI: Are we restricting our children’s cognitive development by teaching them in a foreign language in primary schools? Dawn columnist Zubeida Mustafa certainly believes so.

After extensive research and a great deal of groundwork, Mustafa launched her book ‘Tyranny of Language in Education: The Problem and its Solution’ at the press club on Saturday.

“In education, the medium of instruction is not given enough importance whereas cognitive development is closely related to language,” she told The Express Tribune. “Using English as that medium right from the start, in primary school, is harmful to that relationship.”
Continue reading Book launch: ‘Teach children in their mother language, build their self-confidence’

Education in mother tongue stressed


Source: Dawn

KARACHI, May 28: An impassioned discussion on the subject of education was witnessed at a seminar held at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday. The event was part of the launch of a book titled Tyranny of language in education: the problem and its solution by Zubeida Mustafa.

Dr Aquila Ismail, a former teacher of the NED university, in her introductory remarks to the book and its contents said language was a medium of communication and the thought process was related to the language in which a child dreamed.
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INTERVIEW: “Parents want education for their children but feel helpless.”


Source: InpaperMagzine,Dawn
What is the education sector’s biggest failure?

It has failed to teach our children the value of human life and dignity as well as to impart economic skills to the majority. Most significantly, it has proved to be the dividing factor that has stratified society.

How can we fix this?

Revamp education. Remove inequities. Focus on the teaching — what you teach, how you teach and in which language you teach.
Continue reading INTERVIEW: “Parents want education for their children but feel helpless.”

Possible solutions

A major achievement in the study of the failure of our language and education policies
By Dr Tariq Rahman
Source: Jang

Tyranny of Language
in Education:
The Problem and its Solution
By Zubeida Mustafa
Publisher: Ushba Publishing, 2011
Pages: 234
Price Rs. 200

Like many concerned Pakistanis, Zubeida Mustafa has been worried about the unjust and dysfunctional education system of the country. Unlike most of us, however, she started investigating the phenomenon and wrote a series of
Continue reading Possible solutions

Whither foreign policy?

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Karachi, has a remarkable history. Its founder-secretary, Khwaja Sarwar Hasan, brought the institution from Delhi to Karachi in 1947. Since then, it has had an uninterrupted existence, albeit with many ups and downs, a rocky period being when it was taken over by the Zia government.
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Can qawwalis defeat terrorism?

File photo of a qawwali session

by Zubeida Mustafa

Last night I went to a mehfil-e-qawwali. It is impossible for me to describe the beauty and the exquisiteness of the performance. It was other-worldly, if I may use this term. But that is how I have always found Fareed Ayaz-Abu Mohammad and his brothers’ renderings. They hold one qawwali session every year in memory of their father, the legendary Munshi Raziuddin Qawwal, who died eight years ago.
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Food: an area in which Pakistan excels

Reviewed by Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

PAKISTAN is famous internationally for its cuisine. The versatility and richness in their culinary style and contents make Pakistani restaurants popular eating spots abroad for those in search of exciting and unusual flavours to tickle their taste buds. Shamsi Qurashi, the editor of Heirloom Recipes from Pakistan, says she wanted to produce “something beautiful about Pakistan and its ancient cultural heritage” that would be a pleasant change from the doom and gloom we are surrounded with.
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Television & mental health

By Zubeida Mustafa

True, we have politicians – in the government and in opposition – who have failed to display a measure of competence, integrity and statesmanship. We have an army which sucks up a huge chunk of our resources and yet has not provided us the security one could rightly expect from it. We have economic managers who have been unable or unwilling to shape the national economy in a way as to bring some relief to the people. All this is bad enough.
Continue reading Television & mental health