Document #1040626
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information on the language(s) of
instruction at Gulberg Primary School and/or Gulberg High School in
Lahore from 1965-1975, on the languages spoken in the classrooms,
and on whether either or both schools were set up to accommodate
Bengali-speaking children in particular could not be found among
the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
The following information may be of
interest, however.
According to the 1992 Encyclopedia of
the Third World, English is the medium of instruction "at all
levels of private schools and from the secondary level in public
schools" (1483). However, Richard Nyrop in Pakistan: A Country
Study (1984) states that although 1979 and 1983 decrees made
Urdu the language of instruction, due to a "lack of adequately
trained teachers," implementation of Urdu instruction has been
"hampered" (1984, 125). Nyrop further adds that English is the
language of instruction in private schools (ibid. 1984, 126).
According to Encyclopedia of the Third
World, Pakistan's schooling system consists of five years at
primary school, three in middle school and four in high school
(1992, 1483). Pakistan: A Country Study, however,
describes the schooling system slightly differently: primary school
(grades one through five), middle school (grades six through
eight), high school (grades nine and 10), intermediate school
(grades 11 and 12) and "higher degree programs" (13, 14, and above)
(Nyrop 1984, 125). The "tertiary" level of schooling consists of
two years intermediate, two years undergraduate and three years
postgraduate courses (Encyclopedia of the Third World
1992, 1483).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of additional sources consulted in researching this
Information Request.
References
Encyclopedia of the Third
World. 1992. 4th ed. Vol. 2. Edited by George Thomas Kurian.
New York: Facts on File.
Pakistan: A Country Study.
1984. Edited by Richard F. Nyrop. Washington, DC: Secretary of the
Army.
Additional Sources Consulted
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the
Maldives. 1989.
The Europa World Year Book
1997. 1997.
Jamal's Yellow Pages of
Pakistan. (WWW)
Pakistan: A Travel Survival
Kit. April 1993.
The World of Learning 1997.
1997.
Electronic sources: Internet, IRB
Databases.
Unsuccessful attempts to contact one
oral source.