In Pakistan, there are two distinct systems of education identified mainly in terms of medium of instruction, i.e. English medium and Urdu medium. The English medium schools are privately owned and cater to the upper class as well as some sections of the middle class. In contrast, the Urdu medium schools are mainly public sector
Developing English in development contexts | 5
schools catering to the lower income groups and they offer free education in addition to other incentives such as free textbooks (at least at the primary level). Private schools offer ‘quality’ education to elite children in highly resourced classrooms through the medium of English. The outcomes for these children, who also have acquisition-rich home environments, are higher levels of proficiency in English compared to those children studying in poorly resourced classrooms who have little or no exposure to English outside the 30–35-minute English class every day in school.