By Makhdoom
Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said that besides learning and promoting the national language, it was also important to learn other languages, especially English, to benefit from the vast reservoir of scientific, technical, and business knowledge available in those languages. He was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day 1st Pak TESOL international conference on emerging trends in English language teaching in Pakistan, at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), here. US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome, Vice-Chancellor of AIOU, Professor Dr Zia ul Qayum also addressed the conference.
In his address, the president said that being heritage and a language of communication at the national level, therefore, we should appropriately focus on the promotion and development of Urdu.
He said added that the English language was spoken by a large number of people and was a language of international communication. Therefore, he said it could be beneficial for acquiring modern scientific and technological knowledge as well as for communicating Pakistan’s perspective effectively to the international community.
The president said that scientific knowledge and terms were usually available in the language of developed countries, therefore, it was important to learn those languages.
President Alvi said that though modern research and development was taking place in other languages as well, however, a vast amount of research was being done in the English language, which made its learning essential for increasing the pace of the country’s development.
The president said that the latest advancements in the field of Information Technology (IT), especially in the form of Artificial Intelligence, were affecting every facet of life. Modern applications and technology could be used to learn languages in an easy and effective manner.
He said that modern technology had altered the concept of learning and education and that the memorization of information had gained secondary importance as compared to analytical and logical decision-making.
The president highlighted that the Muslim world in the past had displayed reluctance in adopting the latest technology, especially the Gutenberg printing press, which caused Muslim societies to lag behind in science and knowledge.
He added that the Muslims of the sub-continent also showed resistance to learning the English language due to its colonial nature, before being urged by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for its learning to acquire knowledge and advance socially, politically and economically.
