World moot concludes: Dr Faizi discusses education in local languages in KP

BANGKOK, Nov 9: The 4th International Conference on Multilingual Education for All in Asia Pacific concluded here. Linguists, educationists, researchers, teachers and officials from 23 countries participated in the event. In all, 105 papers were presented in the plenary and parallel sessions. The conference proceedings were divided into four themes. These included mother tongue based education, multilingual education in diverse societies, role of nation states in multilingual education and the role of civil society in advocacy for preservation and revival of the languages of indigenous people .Success stories were presented from many countries including Pakistan, India, Philippines and Thailand. Findings of research from Turkey, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Solomon Islands and other countries showed that minority languages were oppressed. Result of field work reveals that students taught in mother tongue at elementary level show better performance than those taught in 2nd or 3rd language because of the communication gap at the initial stage. It was also revealed that mother tongue based education is helpful in checking the pace of drop out in primary and secondary schools. Dr Inayatullah Faizi presented his paper on \’Education in local languages in Khyber  Pakhtunkhwa: Case study on  political will and its implementation\’. The paper highlighted  steps, and processes followed for putting a system in place which is necessary to give space to mother tongue based multilingual education in all the schools up to grade 12. The paper also highlighted the importance of five languages; Pashto, Hindko, Seraiki, Khowar and Indus Kohistani selected at the initial stage. The paper was followed by question and answer session. There was heated debate on the positive aspects of Pakistani society and the arguments were well taken. In the concluding session Dr Inayatullah Faizi took the floor and gave his impressions and comments on behalf of Pakistani delegates.]]>