Abstract

Language policy of the state and language in education are vital questions of the present times. The questions have gained enormous value, as the contemporary world communities are mostly multilingual. Over and above, English has entered as a powerful player in the arena since the colonial times. This has created such chaos in many countries as seems to be irresolvable. Amongst all that are the clarion calls for legitimate place of national and local languages in education. The authors carried out their study in perspective of South Asia with special focus on Pakistan. The authors proceeded with their study with four objectives in mind: (1) to explore the language policies as manifested in proportionate place of English and local languages in social institutions; (2) to investigate the place of the same languages in education as medium of instruction and as subjects of study; (3) to inquire into the reciprocal effect of the language policies and the place of languages in education; (4) to fathom the chances of the local languages to gain the ground in education in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. The populations of the study were educationists, teachers and students. The samples comprised 30 educationists, 60 teachers and 120 students. The researcher used mixed method approach for data collection. The tools of the research were document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and discussions. The findings indicated stunning facts. In the light of the findings, recommendations were made for the rightful place of local languages and that of English in education.