“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Mandela once said. Today, that weapon is being sharpened not just in classrooms, but in code—through digital platforms, intelligent tutors, and a growing constellation of AI tools that are reshaping how we learn. For Pakistan, where English is both a gatekeeper and a gateway—to employment, mobility, and global conversation—the implications are especially profound.
Across the world, the teaching of English is undergoing a quiet revolution. Learners from Lagos to Lahore now routinely access courses on Coursera and FutureLearn, complete grammar modules on Khan Academy, watch lectures on MIT OpenCourseWare, and practice pronunciation through YouTube channels that reach millions. With a mobile phone and a modest data package, a student in Layyah can sit in on a Harvard linguistics course, while a teacher in Charsadda can craft a lesson plan with the help of ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
Yet this quiet revolution has barely touched our public classrooms. English remains one of Pakistan’s most poorly taught subjects, plagued by rote methods, undertrained teachers, and curricula divorced from real communication. It is both an official language and a foreign one, a requirement for upward mobility that remains out of reach for millions. This gap between aspiration and access has long seemed unbridgeable. But AI, for the first time, offers a practical path forward—not as a silver bullet, but as a set of tools that, when thoughtfully used, can transform both how English is taught and how it is learned.
To begin with, platforms like Khan Academy and Duolingo provide structured, gamified learning that builds core competencies in grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. For more advanced learners, edX and Coursera offer university-level courses on academic writing, phonetics, and English literature. These resources are not just free—they are often better than what is available in many urban schools, let alone rural ones. Yet their transformative potential lies not just in content, but in accessibility. For a teacher with limited English skills, ChatGPT can generate customized explanations, correct student writing, and suggest alternative activities. For a student, it can serve as a 24/7 conversation partner, coach, and editor.
Of course, no technology is neutral. AI learns from existing language patterns, and most large language models are trained primarily on Western, native-speaker English. This can entrench biases and exclude localized varieties of English spoken in Pakistan. But this challenge is also an invitation: to localize, to adapt, and to contribute. Pakistani linguists and educators can begin building domain-specific datasets, train models on local corpora, and develop glossaries that include regional idioms. An English syllabus drawn from the lived experiences of Pakistani learners is not only more inclusive—it is pedagogically sound.
But technology alone cannot solve structural problems. Most of our schools still lack basic infrastructure. Teachers are overburdened and underpaid. Internet access is patchy at best. What we need is not just a digital leap, but a pedagogical shift: a recognition that English is not just a subject to be tested, but a skill to be lived. And that AI, used well, can restore what our classrooms have lost—interactivity, creativity, responsiveness, and joy.
In this new paradigm, the role of the teacher is not diminished; it is elevated. Far from being replaced, teachers become curators, facilitators, mentors. With AI handling routine corrections or generating comprehension questions, the teacher is free to focus on higher-order skills—critical thinking, intercultural awareness, and confidence-building. Language, after all, is not just about structure but expression. No algorithm can inspire like a teacher who believes in a student’s voice.
If we are serious about improving English language education in Pakistan, we must think bigger. The state must invest not just in devices, but in training—integrating digital and AI literacy into pre-service programs, supporting content development in local contexts, and working with edtech startups to bridge the urban-rural divide. Philanthropy can play a catalytic role, as can media, by showcasing success stories and modeling hybrid instruction. And yes, parents must be brought on board—not as passive observers, but as co-learners and facilitators.
The future of English learning in Pakistan need not mirror its past. We are no longer limited to a chalkboard and a textbook. The classroom, once bounded by four walls, now stretches across platforms and time zones. And in that expanded space, there lies a profound possibility: to democratize language, to dignify local voices, and to teach English not as a barrier, but as a bridge.
