Abstract

In COVID-19 times, as learning gaps widen and socioeconomic inequalities exacerbate, inclusivity in education becomes even more important. This paper evaluates inclusivity of educational institutions in the multilingual context of Pakistan at the interstices of class and language, based on some key findings of a 3-year qualitative research that captured the lived in experiences of 36 participants in schools, tertiary education, and beyond. A multiple case study design was used. The instruments were: a) in-depth ethnographic interviews; b) participant observation and c) documentary analysis. Use of Amartya Sen’s capability approach revealed that: a) class-based spatial exclusion persisted not only across but also at times within schools, always intersecting with differential access to dominant languages, nullifying the benefit of instruction in mother tongue. Once class-based differences had translated into acquisition of differently valued languages, spatial inclusion in higher education meant little; b) Emergent exclusionary processes were not only cognitive but also social and psychological in nature, affecting individual in different degrees based on class positioning and at times existed along with processes of inclusion; c) Educational institutions played an active role in constructing an imagined privileged monolingual centre (with English only as the norm), perpetuating discourses of Othering; d) Deconstruction of the monolingual centre revealed it to be illusory, neither inclusive or legitimate in the multilingual context. The paper argues that inclusivity in education at the nexus of class and language needs to be de-segregative and responsive to the multilingual context.

摘要

在COVID-19时代，随着学习差距的扩大和社会经济不平等的加剧，教育的包容性变得更加重要。本文基于一项为期3年的定性研究的一些关键发现，评估了巴基斯坦在多种语言环境下班级和语言环境中教育机构的包容性，该研究捕获了36名学校，高等教育及其他地区参与者的生活经历。使用了多案例研究设计。这些工具是：a）深入的人种学访谈；b）参与者观察和c）文献分析。使用阿玛蒂亚·森（Amartya Sen）的能力分析方法后，我们发现：a）基于班级的空间排斥不仅在学校内部而且有时在学校内部仍然存在，并且总是与主流语言的差异获取相交，取消母语教学的好处。一旦基于班级的差异转化为对不同价值语言的获取，那么高等教育中的空间包容性就意味着微不足道。b）排他性过程不仅是认知上的，而且本质上也是社会和心理上的，基于阶级的定位在不同程度上影响着个人，并且有时与包容性过程一起存在；c）教育机构在建立想象中的特权单语中心（仅以英语为规范）方面发挥了积极作用，使“他者”的话语永存。d）对单语中心的解构表明它是虚幻的，在多语环境中既不是包容性的也不是合法的。