National Officers Academy (NOA academy) has realized the dire need for improvement in English among aspirants and has risen to the occasion by launching the National Officers Academy English School. It understands that English must be taught in a technical, professional and applied manner. For this reason, it has dedicated an entire campus to the teaching of English from the very basics to specific techniques for the Essay and Precis papers.
It is a popular belief in Pakistan that unless one has gained their education from a private school, their proficiency in the English language is severely lacking. Although English language proficiency is dependent on more factors than one, it is true that schooling plays a major role.
Private schools in Pakistan are mainly English-medium, which means that the medium used for teaching is English rather than any other language. Meanwhile, most public schools use Urdu as the medium and in rural provincial areas the local language is used as the medium. According to the World Bank, 63% of Pakistan’s population classifies as rural and only 26% of them attend private school. Meanwhile, 37% classifies as urban and 59% of them attend private schools.
Resultantly, most graduates are not fluent in English and lack basic skills required to construct coherent sentences. However, this phenomenon is not limited only to those who studied from public schools, because on the books, private schools use English as their medium of education, but teachers lack the skills and education required to teach English as a subject.
Many students may even be fluent in spoken English but are unable to write a decent paragraph. English as a subject has little to do with how it is spoken; in fact, spoken English can become a barrier when it comes to academic writing because students can not separate the two and sometimes write using informal and conversational styles that are not appropriate for CSS.
The Civil Superior Services (CSS) Examination is conducted entirely in English, with the exception of Islamiyat where students have an option between attempting it in English or Urdu, and the provincial languages that must be answered in their respective languages. Two of the most difficult papers are English Essay and Precis and Composition. They are notorious in CSS because approximately 90% of aspirants fail these them.
Furthermore, if one looks at the reports published by the Federal Public Service Commission, based on the annual CSS examinations, examiners note that students also fail other subjects because of their weak English since they are unable to understand the question and convey their thoughts in a coherent manner because of weak English.
National Officers Academy’s English School is located in G10 Islamabad and its sole purpose is to host all the English courses and preparatory programs. Three different courses are offered catering to students’ needs and all of them are taught by a highly experienced and skilled faculty which includes Sir Asif Hussain, Dr. Atif Javaid, Sir Nafees Ahmed, Dr. Sassi Malik Sher, and Sir Najeebullah. All these faculty members are either Civil Service Officers or veterans in their field.
The first one, English Foundation, focuses on basic language skills and understanding. It begins with very basic level English, such as tenses and sentence structure. Eventually, students reach a level where they are comfortable with their command over the language and can easily construct their thoughts in a written manner. This is very important for any competitive examination in Pakistan, since they all require good command over the language and the ability to translate thoughts to written answers; hence, students should at least have a good foundation.
The next course, Advanced English Grammar and Writing, is for those who already have a good foundation in English and want to further improve their writing abilities. National Officers Academy’s English School helps students develop a greater command over the language and the ability to be creative with their skills. Where in the English Foundation course, students learn how to construct basic sentences, in this course they learn how to improve upon that and incorporate what they have learned with practical use.
The third course is specifically designed for the English Essay and Composition papers in competitive examinations. The English Foundation and Advanced English Grammar and Writing courses are very general, but this course focuses on targeted study and teaches students how to attempt the Essay and Composition papers according to the requirement of the FPSC and preferences of the examiners.
This comprehensive approach of NOA academy is unique in all of Pakistan. An entire campus is dedicated to the preparation of English with an excellent faculty and program structure. Students of every level can join and study in an environment dedicated to their success and climb their way to the most advanced level till they are certain of their abilities and success.
Written by,
Zareen Nayyar
PR Coordinator
National Officers Academy