Abstract
Pakistan is linguistically and culturally diverse country where more than 70 languages are spoken. Primary education in mother tongue is a basic human right of every child and this right has been denied in private education sector of the country. The division of education among private and public sectors have further pulled the tensions and division among the masses. Language in education policies have been not been dealt with serious consideration in the entire history of Pakistan. Further proliferation of private schools in Pakistan has sidelined the role of indigenous languages in educational domain especially at primary schooling. Private schools are teaching through the subtractive bilingualism mode where one language is being preferred over other languages in teaching and learning context . This paper intends to explore perceptions of Sindhi parents towards additive and subtractive bilingualism in private schools at primary schooling and how this one language policy in schools is affecting their children. For this purpose, 16 semi-structured interviews have been conducted through maximum variation sampling. The data is collected from four districts of the Sindh; Dadu, Hyderabad and Qambar & Shahdadkot. The results showed that parents hold different perceptions about additive/subtractive bilingualism. Out of 16 participants, 6 supported additive bilingualism and rest supported subtractive bilingualism. Results showed that parents were curious that English rather than helping create confusion and frustration for children at this very young age. Therefore, additive bilingualism must be supported that it not only facilitates children but also helps them to grasp complex concepts easily. They demanded that Mother tongue teaching must be supported in private schools Keywords: additive bilingualism, subtractive bilingualism, mother tongue education, English language teaching, language in education policy DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/84-03 Publication date: December 31 st 2021
Highlights
Bilingual education is widely recognized as a standard way to cater the educational needs and address the issues related to language planning
This study explores the perceptions of Sindhi parents towards medium of instruction policy in educational domain and what language would they like to prefer for their children’s academia
The results were more in favor of additive bilingualism and parents strongly supported mother tongue education and six participants supported subtractive bilingualism
Summary
According to Ethnologue, the number of individual languages listed for Pakistan is 74 (Siddique, 2019) Keeping this rich heritage in mind, a clear-cut language policy for language in education has not been proposed and language in education is handled politically (Channa, et al 2016). Despite of offering many language policies proposed in education commissions and conferences targeted goals have not been achieved to boost quality education in country (Patha, et al, 2016). This hegemonic behavior of English in private sector schools and Urdu as medium of instruction has sidelined mother tongue education resulting weak transmission of indigenous languages to children in their early years in schools
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
