Importance of English Language in modern education system.
Introduction:Language is the proper and systematic way of communication between individuals. It is the tool, with which he conducts his business in the society. A language is important because the people who speak it are important — politically, socially, commercially, economically and culturally. Importance of English language is doubtlessly great. It is spoken by more than Three-hundred-forty (340) million people as a first language in United Kingdom and the United States. The better the focus on language the more civilized people become.
English is the highly developed language which has the ability to express ideas and it is the means of revelation of modern civilization.International Language: Importance of English language is due to its international use. It is a fact that a vast knowledge of the universe has been demonstrated in this language. For the achievement of that knowledge, it is essential to understand this international language.
In this modern age when electronic media has widely spread all over the world, it is necessary to have the knowledge of this language because it is the medium of communication and a person, lacking the knowledge of this language can’t get awareness of the universal knowledge. PAKISTAN AND ENGLISHWorldwide the significance of English as a language of communication cannot be overlooked. As communication is the most fundamental aspect of human life and a language works as a key mean of communication for humans. Nowadays English is widely considered as a global language due to its some of the most appealing features it holds this position.
The popularity of English these days could be judged from the fact more than 85 percent international organizations worldwide employ English as the main language, for instance in Asia and the Pacific ninety percent of the organizations officially use English.EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE COUNTRYFirst of all it is vital to comprehend the structure of education system in Pakistan in order to focus in better manner on the topic under discussion. For a long time English has been an integral component of the syllabus. The education in Pakistan can be dissected into five main levels but we will discuss only two main categories at school level:Primary Level: The primary level comprises of 1-5 grades and students of age 3-11. At this level the medium of instructions at government schools is Urdu while schools under provincial governments use local/regional languages as the medium. As mentioned above now the government is planning to introduce English at this level both at federal and provincial schools.
Secondary Level: This level can be further segmented into two main stages:Middle school, which includes pupil of grade 6-8, andHigher school consisting of grade 9-10 students.The age group for this level varies between 11-18 years and is of great significance because at this stage of education the syllabus commences towards specialization in a specific field or disciple and decides towards the future of a student. For instance at this stage a student decides whether he intends to pursue science subjects or arts subjects, the two most common choices available for students at higher school (9-10 grades). While in government schools, also called the ‘Urdu Medium Schools’, the local curriculum of English is taught as the name suggests the medium of instruction is in Urdu.Significance of English in modern education system: No one can deny the importance of English in modern world. It is due to the great importance of this international language that our government make it compulsory subject in the course of students.
Besides its academic importance a person is characterized as illiterate who can’t speak English well. English is the international language as one can find people who understand that language in all parts of the world. It is also the language of internet and international media. Although Urdu is the official language of Pakistan but English is the language which is formally used in all private and government officials. Skill of English language helps students in finding a high quality job. In business life the most important common language is obviously English.
In addition to this, especially high-quality jobs need good understanding ability and speaking skills in English. Therefore companies can easily open out to other countries and these companies generally employee graduates whose English is fluent and orderly. For example, a student, who is graduated from a university which takes English as a major language will find a better and high-quality job than other students who don’t know English adequately. DISADVANTAGES OF NOT HAVING ENGLISH IN SOCIETY:We belong to a developing country and it is the fact that the ruling language is always of developed countries.so for the development and progress in every field of world we must follow the ruling language.in the absence of this thinking; we can never explore this world truly.
This is the reason that societies where the modern language is not being followed remains cutoff from the progressing world. Similarly the person having no command on English language faces too many problems at every step of his life. For example at school level a student cannot compete with his fellow students who are well in English or doing O’level and A’level. Same is the case in colleges and universities where most of the work you have to do or submit is in English.
And in an environment like this only those can excel who have better skills in English Language. The story does not end here the real problem starts from here when you are in field and about to find out a job. In a society like ours where the language English is being treated as a special language since last few decades.
Even our personality evaluation totally depends on our listening, writing and spoken English skills, the better we are the more we excel. So we can conclude that job opportunities are for those who are better in all these aspects. So, your general knowledge and practical skills are not as much important as your command over English. Same is the case with abroad settled non-English people who find great difficulty in living and communicating there. so, to avoid all these problems people from the very beginning are trying to admit their children in English medium schools where they pay heavy fees just to excel in this standard. That is why the poor people are still very far away from this language in our society and facing so many problems to move in society.
Conclusion:- Pakistan’s educational system especially in governmental sector focuses on grammar (tenses, parts of speech, pair of words etc.) from 3 or 4 standard till master’s degree. Though all above mentioned syllabus is very important but we should also improve our vocabulary as well as accent.
Limited vocabulary may devaluate a person a many places and our even highly qualified students can’t get what English people say.Solution is always better than a conclusion:-We should remove the remedies rather than criticize them. · The matter of fact is we should have to improve our spoken skills.· We should improve our school system,· English language must be compulsory in every school.· We must improve our living standard because children spend 12 to 14 hours at their home.· Focusing on child education at the grass root level will help more effectively.· Adopt English as a language but not English culture as a trait.