OPINION: Language Policy Ill-Conceived

Oct 13, 2002

DISTRICT EDUCATION Officers in the Buganda region want all schools under their jurisdiction to conduct classes and to examine pupils in Luganda.

DISTRICT EDUCATION Officers in the Buganda region want all schools under their jurisdiction to conduct classes and to examine pupils in Luganda.
Their position echoes a policy adopted by the education ministry on recommendation by the Kajubi Report, a government white paper, that is due to be implemented in 2004. The medium of instruction for all subjects taught from Primary One to Primary Four —mathematics, science, history, geography and, presumably, English - would be the dominant indigenous language. This would mean Luganda for schools in Buganda; Luo for schools in Lango and Acholi; Runyankore-Rukiga for Kabale, Mbarara, Ntungamo, Bushenyi and Rukungiri; Ateso in Soroti and Kumi; and so on. What then would happen to schools in Tororo, where there are numerous local languages, or in the cosmopolitan urban centres? Quite apart from the impossible task of developing curricula in vernaculars in which many concepts do not exist, and where raising teachers with the requisite technical and language skills would be challenging, it would also skew the foundation on which pupils in different parts of the country begin their education.
They would have started at different levels and they would, therefore, not be able to compete on equal terms higher up on the education ladder (where exams are set in English) and in the competitive world thereafter.
Tanzania tried it, with a single language, to disastrous consequence, and eventually abandoned it. What chance do we stand with our numerous languages? Already, we are struggling with performance disparities between urban and rural schools. This would aggravate the situation. The best way to incorporate our languages in the education system is to teach them as (compulsory?) subjects throughout primary school. That way we would safeguard them without compromising the quality of education. Ends

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