Responding to the low pass rate of the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) results Mr. Dumelang Saleshando, leader of the BCP, is reported to have observed that one way of solving the low pass rate at primary school was to introduce “a multicultural education system”. He is quoted as having observed that “The introduction of mother tongue in schools will enable children to understand what they are being taught and develop confidence and relate to it better”. He is also reported to have argued that “In different districts where Kalanga, Sekgalagadi and Sesubiya, to mention but a few, are spoken, children have to be introduced to education fundamentals by the languages they grew up speaking.” Underlying Saleshando’s argument is that high primary school failures have been caused because children are taught in a language which is not their mother tongue. This underlying claim is one that Saleshando cannot prove. The reason why this is difficult to prove is that there are too many variables such that to put your finger on the language issue would be purely speculative. Additionally, like some on the educational front, he seems to assume that all concepts are better learnt in a mother tongue. This is obviously not true especially when you deal with alien or foreign concepts. Ask anyone who has learnt Setswana grammar about tshwaetsano, tshwaetsanololo, tengwafatso, rinifatso and such complex grammatical terms. The fact that these terms are in Setswana doesn’t make them any easier to a learner. One of the worst things to teach is foreign concepts in a local language. In my understanding dikgalo tsa tennyanateng such as Nxanxau, D’Kara and others are not mainly facing the language problem; they are also facing an economic challenge, the low morale of teachers who don’t wish to work in the middle of nowhere, schools which are poorly resourced, families who do not understand the value of education and a plethora of other challenges. All these variables conspire to generate less than desirable results during examinations. To test whether the medium of instruction is the major impediment, more tests need to be done to support such a thesis.
However the question of language of instruction should not only arise in Nxanxau or D’Kara. It should arise also in Serowe, Kanye and Gaborone. We should inquire why students in Westwood perform well though many of them are taught in a language which is not their mother tongue. The same question should be posed in relation to good performance in a primary school in Palapye or Francistown where the language used as a medium of instruction at school is not the student’s mother tongue, but English. It may be that the honourable MP is falling into a trap of the non-existent dichotomy of the so-called Tswana-medium and English-medium schools. “Medium” in this context refers to the language that is used to teach a subject. In primary schools, a decision has been taken to teach subjects such as Agriculture, Science, Mathematics and Social Studies in the medium of English as early as Standard 1. This makes all government schools de facto English-medium schools, though certain classes, as research has shown, are still characterised by code-switching and code-mixing. It appears to me, therefore, that the central point in education is that students must be taught well with proper facilities and well resourced and properly educated teachers to support their learning. No amount of mother tongue education can improve a child’s results if such education is not supported by appropriate facilities and parents. The experience with the English language education in Botswana seems to suggest that children if supported by their parents and taught well through an official or national language, i.e. a language that has some educational and economic value, will always thrive and excel in whatever subject they study. It is clear that Mr. Saleshando understands the importance of these points as he argues that “most parliamentarians’ children attend private English medium schools and institutions overseas because they believe their children can be taught better there,” adding that “The teacher training has to be upgraded to a minimum of degree holders across all institutions and teachers be remunerated and given good accommodation.” I believe Mr. Saleshando understands these other factors, that is why he refers to certain MPs sending their children abroad for a better education which doesn’t use the children’s mother. I therefore believe that Mr. Saleshando should not conflate matters of minority language development with issues of teaching in mother tongue. This is because mother tongue education programs do not always result with expected results. For instance, Stroud (2001:340/341) has argued that: “It is quite clear that in the majority of cases, the programmes that fail most dismally are those that seek to use the ‘minority’ languages of the most marginalised and poverty stricken speakers as media of instruction. Speakers such as these, view their languages as dead ends educationally and of little use in official labour markets.” Stroud’s argument is actually in consonance with what is happening in Botswana where: “an overwhelming majority of teachers reject the option of a Setswana-medium primary phase” while most teachers prefer English as “the sole medium of instruction throughout the primary school.” Teachers as well as many parents therefore currently encourage learners to use English inside and outside the classroom since they perceive it as a language of education and progress (Arthur, 1997:230).
It appears to me in the current climate there is a need to devise strategies of local language development beyond just the classroom setting, which, if Arthur is right, is not always a success.
Limiting the scope of local language development to the classroom limits our thinking about language development into a narrow tunnel of mother tongue education. It also retards progress on local languages development since individuals end up thinking that the only way they could gain any language development would be when they are taught in schools. Currently debates are still ongoing on whether mother tongue education is desirable. Should languages be taught, as in the case of Setswana currently in schools, or should teaching be done through such local languages? That is, should we teach Science and Mathematics in Sekgalagadi or Seyei; or should we simply teach Seyei or Sekgalagadi in schools where they are spoken most? This kind of dialogue, if done carefully with the best interest of learners at heart, will achieve much.