Problematising school classifications in Pakistan: the case of English-medium private schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article problematises the widely accepted classification of English-medium private schools in Pakistan which reproduces academic literature along the binaries of elite/non-elite, rich/poor, and English-medium/Urdu-medium. It seeks to expand this classification to acknowledge the existence of middle-tier English-medium private schools which are neither elite nor low-fee. Utilising interdisciplinary evidence to distinguish between elites and a ‘new middle class’, the article strives to highlight the existence of a wide swath of middle-class population in Pakistan which is almost invisible in the academic discourse in the field of education. The article also draws on findings from a case study conducted at an English-medium private school in Karachi, Pakistan, which show that the current binary classification of private schooling does not fit the realities of this school site. The results suggest that English-medium private schools that cater to the new middle class need to be recognised as a separate category. The article incorporates code-switching and translanguaging research to give a glimpse of how students negotiate bilingualism/multilingualism in this resource-rich and literacy-rich school. As such, stepping beyond the binaries will enable scholars to explore how bilingualism/multilingualism affects a cross-section of the population rather than focusing only on lower socioeconomic groups across Pakistan.