Status of English Language Teaching at Madaris of Tehsil Dargai, Malakand: An Analysis

1. Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan 2. Assistant Professor, Department of English, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: July 13, 2020 Accepted: September 05, 2020 Online: September 30, 2020 The purpose of the study is to find out the current status/position of English language and the interest of teachers and students regarding teaching of English language in Madaris of Tehsil Dargai, Malakand. For this purpose, a five point scale questionnaire was designed followed by the descriptive analysis. The findings showed that majority of the teachers and students favored the teaching of English language in Madaris. Both, the teachers and the students considered the teaching of English language in Madaris as essential and suggested that it should be kept as a subject. However, some of the teachers and students showed reservation about English language teaching in Madaris. They believed that as the main focus of Madaris is to inculcate Islamic knowledge, therefore, in this connection, the teaching and learning of English in Madaris is useless


Introduction
English Language has attained the status of global lingua franca. The status of English as an international language is undisputedly recognized throughout the world. It is generally used as a medium of communication across the world. In Pakistan, the introduction of English and its status has a long history, which began with the arrival of British in United India in 1600. Since then, with the passage of time, they started introducing the British education system in India. After independence in 1947, Pakistan continued with the same system wherein English remained intact and occupied the same position (official language and medium of instruction). Competitive examinations for civil and other lucrative and prestigious positions continued to be held in English. Due to its high demand in job market and its association with the upper elite class, it is generally considered to be a language of elite class, a symbol of prestige and economic prosperity (Mahboob, 2017;Shah, Pillai &Sinayah, 2019;Shah, M., Riaz, W & Malik, S, 2019). In fact, not only in Pakistan but in most countries of the world, English is considered to be a prestigious language, having high social status and economic value.
Broadly speaking, Pakistani educational system can be divided into three main streams: government-run schools, colleges and universities; private run schools, colleges and universities; and Islamic Madaris. In the government-run schools and colleges, the medium of instruction (MI) is predominantly Urdu and vernacular languages. In the private sector, English tends to be the MI (Mahboob, 2017). While in Madaris, Urdu and even Arabic are used as MIs.
It is to be noted that a large number of studies investigated the role and status of English language in connection with school, college and university in different contexts but the use of English language in the context of Madaris remains under-researched. In view of the above, the current study aims to investigate the status and use of English language in Madaris at Tehsil Dargai.

Literature Review
English language is widely spoken across the globe. The world has become a global village, which turned English language into a global language. As a result, English language has dominated almost all other languages of the world. Currently, it is playing a pivotal role in connecting the entire world. In Pakistan English is considered to be the language of economic development and social mobility. It is considered to be the language of a prestigious class. Despite the fact that it is the language of the people who colonized them for over two centuries but they continue to use them. Even a country like China highly values English Language. In such situation, there exist certain communities who side line English Language and stick to their old native languages. Our educational system in Madaris is also a part of our religious traditions. No doubt in Pakistan Madaris plays a vital role in protecting our Islamic identity, culture and beliefs. They are mainly focusing on religious information and knowledge but unfortunately do not pay attention to developing skills in technology and modern languages, such as English language, which is need of the day Rahman (1998) has given a detailed description about the types of schools in Pakistan. He classified the schools into five categories; Elite private schools, schools run by the armed forces, state schools, non-elite English medium schools and religious schools (Madaris). He also talked about languages taught in Madaris. Rahman (1998) elaborated that English language is not taught to the students of all Madrassa though the government has been encouraging its teaching. This does not mean that English language is not taught in Madaris at all. In fact, it is taught as a subject but in a quite limited number of madrasas. The government textbooks are used for this purpose. Furthermore, Rahman (ibid) he also explained that all Ulemas (Possessor of knowledge) are not against the English language and do not oppose the idea of amendment in madrassas curriculum regarding the inclusion of English language as a subject. He recommends English education as a compulsory subject in Madaris.
Similarly, Coleman (2010) focused on English language used in the educational sectors in the madrassa located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He discussed the National Education Policy of Pakistan (2009) particularly the function of English language in Pakistan and talked about the expansion of domain of the use and learning of English. He emphasized the development of English language in various religious sectors. According to Coleman (2010), many Ulemas of KP Madaris are in favor of teaching English language. He referred to a Maulvi who while talking about the importance of English went to the extent that they Muslims want to spread Islam in the world, and then they have to learn English language. This is the only tool through which people can understand other religions. English also helps us in understanding the teachings of other religions because most of the religions of the world have been trying to spread their messages in English language.  designed a course of English language to be taught at Madaris. She highlighted the status of English language at Madaris. Her research concluded that 70% of Madaris teachers are incompetent in English language. She prepared a short course of three months for them. The course is required to be implemented in Madaris and the management of Madaris needs to give some more time to English language teaching. Her designed course is being taught in a number of Islamic Madaris in Islamabad (Pakistan). Anzar and Carter (2006) gave a description of English language teaching in Madaris in India. According to them, there is a lively debate about the role that Madaris should play in the development and prosperity of society. Some Madaris' leaders are only interested in teaching and defending the medieval texts of their particular school and they ignore English language teaching at these Madaris. However, traditional madrassa's curricula, with their emphasis on the memorization of particular texts, are not sufficient enough to prepare Madaris students to play a major role either in India's growing economy or its diverse pluralistic democracy. According to them, Muslim leaders need to realize the fact that religious education is important, but not sufficient to improve the economic well-being of the Muslim community. In addition, they claim that with such a low standard of education in the public schools, boys and girls in the community are likely to engage in anti-social activities. According to them, Madaris leaders need to introduce some academic subjects in the madrasa curricula. Furthermore, they emphasized that Madrasa Board also needs to hire teachers for teaching subjects such as science, math, social studies and English to their students. Sultana (2015) also conducted a study wherein she has given a glimpse of the significance of the English language in the educational system in some Madaris. She gives description of a madrasa for girls in Hyderabad which provides equal importance to the English language along with religious knowledge. The study reported that some of the students have developed the notion that it is the language that rules over us and made us slaves. It is not their mother tongue and hence English language may not be useful for them. She argues that the teachers encourage the female students to speak English not only for employment purposes or personal reasons but to do everything they do as ibadat (in the path of Allah) whether it is eating food or learning a language like English. One of the teachers, while commenting on English, elaborated that language has nothing to do with religion. To spread the religion, we need to speak in the language of the other person. In addition, she further explains that now English language has been made part of the curriculum in most of the Madaris and even some have established separate English language departments. This type of approach is the need of the hour. The system of education followed at Madaris is carefully planned to ensure that those who graduate from a madrasa are able to face the challenges of the world. Sultana (2015) elaborated that English Language was introduced by the state to modernize and update the curriculum and improve the future prospects of Madaris gradates. The reason for this initiative could be the social and political factors. She explains that English language has been gaining space in the madrasa curriculum not only to create employment opportunities for the students, but also to respond to allegations levelled against Islam. Parents want their children to be equipped with the skills required for employment and also want them to learn English language so that they may understand the true spirit of their religion. (2002) also talked about the misconception that terrorism spreads from Madaris and students of Madaris are trained and taught for violence. They emphasized the fact that equipping the teachers and students in Madaris with English language would enable them to defend themselves against the label of terrorism in the world. Without English, they cannot convey the message of Islamic teachings to the world in a realistic manner. Nayyar and Salim (2002) highlighted that Madaris in Pakistan need to promote English language for the sake of their dignity and honor. Nehal, Salma&Hussain, (2016) investigated the curriculum of Madaris. She explains that traditionally Madaris only focus on the knowledge of the Holy Quran. Thus, the Quran and the traditions of Prophet are the crux of madrasa curriculum. She elaborates that only Arabic language is used at Madaris because some Ulemas were hanged due to their participation in the freedom fight 1857 and thus, English language became the identity of a particular community and carried a negative image in the madrasa educational system. Moreover, the Ulemas and Madaris owners thought that English language would damage the fundamentalism of Islam and it would also mislead the future generation. She expounds that introducing English language curriculum in Madaris is to encourage and strengthen the teaching of English along with other subjects such as Sciences, Mathematics and Social Sciences which will provide opportunities to students to acquire education comparable to the national system of education. Nehal, Salma&Hussain, (2016) elaborated that in most of the Madaris, English is taught as an optional subject, as the medium of instruction is Urdu, Hindi, or Bengali in the Madaris of India. They do not focus on the functional aspects of language; the focus is only on reading and writing skills. She explains that the English textbooks prescribed in Madaris have some lessons on writing (letter and application writing, paragraph, story and essay writing), grammar (narration, parts of speech etc.), and vocabulary (antonym, synonym etc.); but neither they focus on speaking nor listening skill in the English language. So, the syllabus of English language is outdated as far the global need is concerned. Moreover, she explains that the current English language syllabus does not fulfill the needs of the teachers and students. She refers to the census of 2006, and elaborates that English is spoken by 300-400 million people. Therefore, to connect with the modern world, whether it is for higher education or for any other purpose, English language should be known to all.

Nayyar and Salim
Niyogi (2012) highlights the incompetency of English language teachers in Madaris and gives suggestions for effective teaching of English as a language in Madaris. According to him, most of the English teachers in Madaris barely speak English in class. They usually teach English in Bengali or Urdu. He says that not only the teachers are more comfortable to teach in vernacular, but students are also not proficient in English language. According to him, when a teacher is more proficient in English than average teachers in Madaris, he or she hardly interacts with students. According to him, most English teachers in Madaris are not English language graduates. He says that the authorities recruit English teachers from within Madaris graduates, who are obviously incompetent in English language teaching. He claims that how someone can teach English language, if he/she has graduated or postgraduated in subjects other than English.
The abovementioned review shows that English language is not taught in all Madaris and suggests that it should be kept as a subject in Madaris. Additionally, most of English teachers of Madaris are not English graduates and so not competent to teach English. Therefore, Madaris in Pakistan need to promote English language for the sake of their dignity and honor. Without English language, it is not possible to project and convey the true message of Islam to the world. No doubt, the teachers in Madaris have great skills and knowledge to defend themselves but, unfortunately, due to their lack of proficiency in English, they could not convey their message/voice to the rest of the world. For these reasons, English language needs to be included in the curriculum of Madaris.

Material and Methods
The aim of the study was to find out the status and perceptions of the teachers and students regarding the status of English language teaching in Madaris. To achieve the aforementioned objectives, two main questions related to the status of English and the perceptions of the teachers and students were set/formulated. In view of the aims and nature of research questions of the study, the research mainly relies on quantitative paradigm.
In order to collect the data, a close ended, five point scale questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire included questions related to the status and interest of teachers and students in Madaris of Tehsil Dargai, as well as their perceptions regarding English language. The researcher assured the participants that any information obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential. The obtained data is presented in a tabulated form.

Setting and Population
The study was conducted in five Madaris of Tehsil Dargai. These Madaris are; Madrasa Misbahul Jameya Rehmaneya, Madrasa KashifUlUloom, Madrasa Abdullah BiniAbbass, Madrasa DarulUloomFaizUl Quran and Madrasa TaleemUl Quran. In these five Madaris English language is taught as a subject. A total of 50 teachers and 50 students with the ratio of 10 teachers to 10 students each from all five Madrasa were selected.

Data Analysis and Interpretation
As mentioned in the previous section, the researcher collected data from five different aforementioned Madaris where English language is taught as a subject. In these five madrasas, more than 2000 students were admitted and there were 50 teachers in total. As there are different tools for data collection and a researcher has to choose the one which fulfills the needs of his/her research. For this study, questionnaire was opted as a data collection tool, followed by its descriptive analysis. The analysis showed that majority of the teachers and students favored English language teaching in Madaris. The study revealed that some of the students showed disinterest in learning English language. This might be because they have never come across English language, which might make it difficult for them to understand English as a language. Students get admission in Madaris to gain Islamic knowledge that is why learning English language may appear to them as wastage of time. Consequently, less time is given to this subject. Furthermore, most of the teachers appear to be not competent enough in teaching English language to make the students understand, due to their lack of proficiency in English language. The reason may be that English is not a major subject in Madaris, so teachers do not give any importance to the learning of this subject. As per the data given above in the table and graph, the researcher finds that 90% teachers and 84% students agreed that English language teaching is necessary at Madaris. They consider that without English language, they cannot deliver the message of Allah and Prophet to modern world. Learning English language is necessary to convey Islamic teachings to the whole world (Coleman, 2010). On the other hand, 2% teachers and 6% students disagreed that English language teaching is necessary in Madaris. They thought that the main objective of Madaris is to provide religious knowledge only. So there is no need to teach English language in Madaris. While 18% Students remained neutral. As per the above result of data collected table and graph, the researcher finds that 42% teachers and 42% students agreed that English language teaching has strong oppositions in Madaris. They think, English language is now a days the need of the hour. They did not opposing English language, because they considered that English language is necessary for them to understand mobile messages, computers and letter etc. They want to learn English language. A total of 6% teachers and 4% students remained neutral, while 6% percent teachers and 12% students showed that English language has strong opposition in Madaris. A big chunk, 88% teachers and 84% students disagreed and they considered that English language teaching has no opposition in Madaris and it should be taught in Madaris. In this way, both the teachers and students showed preference for English language teaching in Madaris. As per the above table and graph, the study shows that 52% teachers and 42 % students strongly agreed, 42% teachers and 40% students agreed, 04% teachers and 12% students remained neutral, 0% teachers and 2% students disagreed and 2% teachers and 4% students strongly disagreed with the above question. The result shows that majority of the teachers and students agreed that English language teaching is essential in Madaris. They think English language teaching is essential in Madaris because without English language they cannot face the challenges of modern world. In contrast, almost half of them are indecisive that either English language is essential in Madaris or not whereas some of the teachers and students considered that English language teaching is not essential in Madaris. They believed that Madaris should focus on religious books  Teachers  02  07  01  00  00  Students  01  01  07  01  00  Madrasa Abdullah  BiniAbbass  Teachers  02  04  04  00  00  Students  02  07  01  00  00  Madrasa DarulFaizUl  Quran Uloom  Teachers  00  00  00  00  10  Students  01  03  02  00  04  Madrasa TaleemUl  Quran  Teachers  03  07  00  00  00  Students  04  04  02  00  00 The results show that 58 % teachers and students favored English language in Madaris, 10% teachers and 26% students remained neutral and 32% teachers and 16% students dislike English language. The result shows that majority of the teachers and students are in favor of English language teaching in Madaris and they give emphasis that it should be taught in Madaris. In Pakistani Madaris where English is taught as subject have the difficulty to protect their selves against the false propaganda about Islamic teachings? The results indicate that 32% teachers and 36% students strongly agreed, 66% teachers and 40% students agreed, 14% teachers and 10%students remained neutral, 14% teachers and 10% students disagreed and 0% teachers and 0% students strongly disagreed with the above question. The result shows that majority of the teachers and students considered that Madaris students are interested in English language. They want to learn English language because without English language they cannot convey Islamic teachings to the rest of the world. However, it is also evident from the result that some of the students are not interested in English language because their main focus is on gaining religious knowledge. The findings show that 70% teachers and 46% students strongly agreed, 18% teachers and 38% students agreed, 12% teachers and 10% students remained neutral, 0% teachers and 4% students disagreed and 0% teachers and 2% students strongly disagreed with the above question. The above result shows that most of the teachers and students considered that English language should be kept as a subject in Madaris. They believe that if they want to spread the message of Allah and to convey Islamic teachings to the world, they need to learn English language. They can learn English language only if it is kept as a subject in Madaris. On the other hand few of them considered that it should not be kept as a subject. They think that it is the language of non-Muslims and it can adversely affect their culture. The findings reveal that 48% teachers and 36% students agreed that lesser time is given to English Language teaching as compare to other subjects in Madaris. They considered that the main focus of Madaris is to provide religious knowledge. Therefore, Madaris give more time to religious subjects than English language. While 18% teachers and 52% students disagreed with above question. The purpose of Madaris is to provide religious knowledge. There are so many religious books to be taught. For this reason more time is given to religious subjects than English.  Teacher  01  05  01  02  01  Student  00  05  04  00  01  Madrasa Abdullah Bin  Abbass  Teacher  00  04  01  01  04  Student  01  07  02  00  00  Madrasa Darul  UloomFaizUl Quran  Teacher  07  00  02  01  00  Student  05  00  02  03  00  Madrasa TaleemUl  Quran  Teacher  05  04  00  01  00  Student  00  05  01  02  02 As per the above result, 26% teachers and 24% students strongly agreed, 30% teachers and 38% students agreed, 8% teachers and 18% students remained neutral, 20% teachers and 12% students disagreed and 16% teachers and 8% students strongly disagreed with the above question. The above result shows that majority of the teachers and students agreed that English teachers in Madaris are never trained properly. English language teachers in Madaris are mostly selected from existing teachers of Madaris. They need to hire the services of professional English language teachers in order to improve the existed conditions of English language teaching in Madaris. The table and graph show that 42% teachers and 30% students agreed, 22% teachers and 24% students remained neutral, and 36% teachers and 46% students disagreed with the above question. The above result shows that majority of the students agreed that English language teachers in Madaris are less competent to teach English as a language. The students considered that English language teachers in Madaris are incompetent to English language. This could be attributed to their lack of knowledge about English language as they are never properly trained to teach English. On the other hand, majority of the teachers and students claim that they are competent enough to teach English as a language. The results show that 4% teachers and 14% students strongly agreed, 4% teachers and 10% students agreed, 14% teachers and 12% students remained neutral, 28% teachers and 12% students disagreed and 50% teachers and 52% students strongly disagreed with the above question. The findings reveal that some of the teachers and students agreed that English language teaching in Madaris is considered useless as it adds nothing to Islamic knowledge and the main focus of Madaris is to provide Islamic knowledge. However, majority of students disagreed and they consider English language important for the spread of Islam.

Conclusion
The current study attempts to find the current status of English language teaching at Madaris of Tehsil Dargai. The results were presented in tabulated form in order to show the status of English language teaching at Madaris and to show the interest of teachers and students in teaching and learning of English language at Madaris. The study found that majority of the teachers and students are in favor of English language teaching in Madaris. The teachers and students believe that English language teaching is essential in Madaris and it should be kept as a subject in Madaris. The study reported that some of the teachers and students considered English language teaching in Madaris as useless, giving less time to its teaching and learning. The reason may be that in Madaris the main focus is on teaching and gaining Islamic knowledge. English teachers of Madaris are not given any training to teach English language, possibly leading to their lack of sufficient competency to teach English language. English language teaching can be improved in Madaris by giving it equal importance as given to the other subjects. Awareness needs to be raised in the students and teachers about its global importance. Those teachers who are teaching English as a language should be properly and sufficiently trained. The government should provide financial support to the Madaris so that they can hire qualified English language teachers. The students and teachers can be motivated for learning English language by telling them that they can deliver the message of Allah and Prophet to those people who are living abroad and can understand English only. Further empirical research, preferably employing qualitative or mixed methods research design, might be fruitful to compare the findings of this study. Moreover, the area regarding training and competency of Madaris' English teachers to teach English language needs attention.