July 29, 2007

FOR the last many years in Pakistan, English language coaching centers are not only doing roaring business but catering to the language learning requirement of the students of underprivileged class of society. Each year hundreds of thousands of students who are dependent on Urdu medium public schools where English language is neither a strong requirement nor adequately taught, find opportunities to pursue language skills. The pursuit of English, seen as an official or powerful and important UN language, is essential to their future academic career.

The initiation for English languages centers began in 1977, where under a joint collaboration by the Pakistan and American centers, it was decided to open Pak-American Cultural Centers (PACC) in all major cities of Pakistan. Though an informal English coaching system had functioned under British Councils long before, the PACC programme introduced new lines of English learning.

Previously, the programmes ran under the supervision of American/British linguists but due to the worsening law and order situation in the country and the emergence of an already qualified Pakistani class, the centers were turned over to locals to manage.

Though the centre requires that staff have teaching experience, this rule is not always followed. “The director’s choice and a good accent, preferably a female, could earn you a handsome salary as a part-time teacher for afternoon classes” said one programmer. The PACC programmes proved successful and within a few semesters, the number of admissions increased, despite the fact that the fees were raised, but that all ended in the 1990s.

Keeping in view the success of English language centers as a profitable investment, many of the teachers opened their own centers. According to one university student who studied first in the PACC and later on taught in a private center, “it seemed easy business. It was not difficult to hire the services of a few PACC graduates on low salaries and offer classes for English. They attracted a good number of admissions.

According to a programmer who had worked for many private centers one could earn huge amounts in this business. Describing the center he was in, it offered four levels. Each level comprised 50 to 80 students where an individual teacher tutored for one hour a day and earned between Rs3,000 to 4,000. Each student paid a three-month semester fee for Rs800 plus books.

The center functioned five days a week. A teacher could be given a bonus of Rs1,000 after each semester if 75% of his class students qualified to the next level. As one teacher put it, “The real challenge came from how to boost students’ interest for readmission in the next level at the same center.” The rules for bonus were rigid and a narrow miss was disappointing.

The learning of English became an essential qualification in Pakistan for a student’s quest for career building. Many students interviewed after completion of their courses showed satisfaction over their improvement of skills. “We found the coaching rewarding as it improved our English proficiency, though the programme had many drawbacks,” was a common response from a group of students.

The language centers, nonetheless, have a number of loopholes which reflect on the process of learning. The major problem comes from the fact that the curricula are not sufficient in pertaining to students’ need. A majority of the centers follow curricula once adopted by PACC with major changes, but are unable to run like them. Most part of the programme is to focus on spoken English rather than written English. They contain less provision for grammar improvement or sentence-building that could help a student gain proficiency in written English and then do well in regular and competitive examinations.

According to an Oxford educated programmer, the major requirement of Pakistani students is to improve their written English more than spoken. The proficiency in spoken language may not easily cover the written portion.

A majority of the language centers involve business orientation more than academic pursuits with an admission policy of quantity than quality. Without fixing placement criterion, they are open to nearly all those who can afford to pay the tuition. The incentive for them is to promote monetary rather than language pursuits, but due to competition and opening of new centers in close vicinities reputation matters for new admissions One can see in the classes grey-haired learners who having the zeal and interest are otherwise unable to attend regular schools or go for private tuition.

The centers also provide job opportunities to many unemployed graduates who, having done Master’s in English or other subjects and possess good communicative skills, are unemployed. In 1991, a CSS officer in the police said that despite holding a Master’s in international relations he was unemployed and lived hand to mouth until he was offered a teaching position for two hourly classes every day, for which he was paid Rs4,000. “I not only gained confidence but money to meet my day to day expenses”.

The writer is Dean, faculty of languages, University of Balochistan dera1955@yahoo.com