Last month, the prime minister told parliament that his government was planning to introduce courses on a third language from Class 6. Five languages—Mandarin, Japanese, French, German, and Arabic—have been selected under this policy. The government also plans to make vocational and technical education mandatory from the same grade. The categorisation of a “third language” is conceptually flawed; hence, it must be used with caution. Such a sequential acquisition process assumes that English is the “second” language acquired after the mother tongue and routinely used in everyday contexts. The reality is that English functions as a foreign language, while also serving some second-language purposes. Then there is also the issue of Indigenous communities whose mother tongue—i.e. first language—is not Bangla. Instead of a “third language,” a rather safe label of “additional foreign/international language” can be used.
The government formally included Mandarin language education through an MoU signed during the premier’s recent visit to Beijing. And China reciprocated by agreeing to help Bangladesh in establishing a language centre network with a pool of teachers who can teach at different levels. Whether the same support will be received from other diplomatic missions remains to be seen.
According to the 2024 report of Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), there are 18,968 secondary schools in the country. All of them will need at least one additional language teacher. The challenge is critical. Our language learning record in both Bangla and English exacerbates the situation further. The National Assessment of Secondary Students 2023 found that 22 percent of Class 8 students remained in the two lowest achievement bands in Bangla, and 27 percent in English. These figures tell us to be cautious in introducing another compulsory language before strengthening foundational literacy. Still, a case for multilingual education can be made knowing that the traditional job market no longer exists, and the new generation must prepare themselves as global citizens with diverse skillsets.
But what do we aim to achieve with this project? Ten years from now, do we want our students to communicate with a Japanese supervisor for their higher studies, negotiate with a Chinese entrepreneur in Mandarin, or establish a real estate business in the Middle East? Or are we simply thinking that a combination of vocational skills and an additional language will get them a blue collar job? These are the questions that we must ask before introducing a third language into the national curriculum.
Currently, the ministry is focused on teacher availability, curriculum development and assessment readiness, and the need to create an immersive environment for language practice. These are thoughts in the right direction, in order to turn our students into national assets through capacity-building. The concern is that the language component may cause anxiety regarding a “third examination.”
Before embracing a third language, it is important to adopt a national language policy that considers the diverse mother tongues. There has been ample research to show that a language policy must begin with the language through which a child first understands the world. Once learners attain foundational literacy, they can enhance their worldview by learning additional languages. There are two misleading positions that need to be addressed: one discourages learning another language until everybody has mastered Bangla and English, and the other assumes that adding a foreign language to the syllabus will automatically make students multilingual.
It’s true that children possess considerable linguistic plasticity. It is easier for them to detect new patterns and perceive unfamiliar sounds, accents, rhythms and patterns. Early exposure can help learners develop phonological awareness and reduce the fear and self-consciousness that frequently inhibit older learners. But “children learn languages easily” is only a half-truth. Language learning requires immersion in authentic experiences. Students need to have repeated exposure, social interaction, imitation, experimentation and meaningful use of the target language. This is one of the reasons why many of our students fail to learn English even after 12 years of schooling. The failure is not caused by the students’ lack of intelligence; they underperform in English because the learning system treats language as an examinable subject rather than a communicative practice.
In Class 6, as adolescent learners, students can be initiated into the world of a new language. But the real challenge will be to allow sufficient time for that elementary knowledge to develop into functional competence. Language is not mastered by memorising details. It must be heard, spoken and used. If the secondary system creates the supply chain, the prospect of introducing a third language at the tertiary level will be successful.
The University Grants Commission (UGC), in line with the government’s policy, is proposing a third language in its tertiary curricula. Again, this may mandate students to take a three-credit introductory course, pass the final examination, and never use the language again. Such courses provide cultural exposure, but they rarely produce durable proficiency before they enter the job market.
Therefore, a vertical language pathway must be created to make this additional language policy work. Primary education could provide non-examinable multilingual exposure like songs, stories or multimodal content. Because of cable TV and the internet, many children watch Japanese and Korean content, for example. Classes 6-8 could develop pronunciation, listening and basic oral communication. At the SSC stage, students could acquire elementary reading, writing and everyday conversational ability. At the higher secondary level, they could begin connecting the language to academic, technical or vocational interests.
Universities can offer area studies depending on our strategic needs. Technical institutions should offer discipline-specific language training. For instance, healthcare communication for nursing students can be different from that of a construction worker or a diploma engineer. The target should be to align terminal degrees or diplomas with demonstrable functional ability in an additional language. The Common European Framework of Reference organises proficiency from A1 to C2 through practical “can do” descriptors and can be customised to suit our national benchmarks for listening, speaking, reading and writing.
While the economic argument for a third language is persuasive, marketing language as an employment guarantee would be incorrect. An engineer working in Japan must attain technical knowledge, professional competence, digital literacy, and intercultural awareness alongside mastering a foreign language to be competitive in the international job market. The language learning model should be part of a larger learning ecosystem.
Most importantly, does the government have the resources to invest in all five languages with the same intensity? We cannot rely on a short-term solution of bringing in some native speakers to run some master classes. Instead, we need a national teacher census. Selected universities can design language teaching diplomas and postgraduate programmes, and initiate scholarships for future teachers who will receive pedagogical training abroad. Digital platforms for distance learning and internationalisation can be utilised for immersive experiences. Instead of over-relying on international partners, we must build our own resources, maintaining the curricular authority.
The policy pronouncement must be backed by infrastructural development. Otherwise, it will encourage a shadow support structure through coaching services and create a rift between the haves and have-nots. The proposal will widen the inequalities, as the resource-heavy and mostly urban institutes are likely to outperform the resource-constrained ones from the rural areas. The plan to have a third language thus needs more planning before its execution.
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is vice-chancellor at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries, and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.
