On Friday June 29th the Debate Master Association (DMA) of the University of Botswana launched the start of Setswana debates at junior secondary schools at a well organized cocktail party help at the University of Botswana Library Auditorium. From August 2012 the junior secondary schools across the country will be set alight by Setswana debates. The concept of Setswana debates is a novel idea by DMA who have previously hosted a successful international inter-university debating championship at the University of Botswana. That intervarsity debating championship was in English. However after it DMA hosted a Setswana debating competition between a few Gaborone tertiary institutions. I was a judge at that competition and I must say it was electric. It exceeded my expectations by far.
Since early 2012 DMA has been working with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) and the Botswana Educational Hub to launch the Setswana debates. The launch was graced by many important educators and interested parties in the project. Amongst the dignitaries was the Permanent Secretary in the MoESD, Ms Grace Muzila; Mr Lekwape from Botswana Examinations Council, Mrs Manana Tshoagong from Medi Publishing, Dr. Sedisa, Director of Student Welfare at UB, Attorney General’s representatives and many others. DMA has partnered with government departments and a few in the private sector to bring a season of exciting Setswana debates. Some of the partners are IEC, The Botswana Police, The Chinese Embassy, Medi Publishing, The Attorney General’s Chambers and others. The Setswana debates come at a time when Setswana has been chosen by ACALAN (The African Academy of Languages) as one of the first working cross-border languages and the vehicular cross-border languages which should be given priority in the southern African region. ACALAN is an arm of the African Union, created in 2001 to deal with the growing efforts of promoting the African languages as tools of development and regional integration in Africa. Out of the 2,130 languages spoken in Africa, 396 were identified as cross-border languages, that is, as those spoken across national boundaries. Setswana was identified to be one of these languages. The African Union is interested in promoting and developing these 396 languages to use them in promoting regional development and integration. In southern Africa Setswana and Chinyanja have been selected as the first regional languages to play the role of regional development and integration. The two languages were chosen for the southern African region on the basis of their broad use in several countries. This includes their extensive use in public domains, their success in attracting second language speakers, their national/official status and their levels of technicalisation and standardisation. Setswana now has an African Union Language Commission made up of language experts/promoters, writers/cultural promoters and members from regional organisations like SADC and The Linguistic Association for SADC Universities (LASU) and Association Of Teachers of Language and Literature of Southern Africa (ATOLL). Setswana has therefore overall African, and not just national, relevance. The Setswana debates therefore come at a time when the African Union is putting a spotlight on the Setswana language.
It must be said however that the DMA is not only interested on the language issue, they are also keen on the critical matters under that are key and pertinent to our social and political environment. This is why partners such as the IEC, BEC and the Botswana Police Service have been brought on board. The attractive thing is that language grows in specific linguistic environments. Through these debates the Setswana language will therefore be used in domains which hitherto it hasn’t functioned. Young Setswana speakers, many who have never debated issues in Setswana, will for the first time get a chance to tackle difficult matters in the Setswana language. On Friday we did get a fore-taste of what is yet to come in the Setswana debates. A pair of debaters for twenty minutes battled over the motion Should floor crossing be allowed? The beauty and elegance with which the debaters dealt with the motion demonstrated that though many have heeled away from their mother tongue, if they are called to use it, they will do so with precision and beauty. This Setswana debates are therefore important since they give the language hope especially that the debates are currently aimed at the junior secondary school levels where English is being drilled into young minds. In the past five years I have visited a number of junior secondary schools and I have been met by that famous sign ‘You are entering an English-speaking zone’ or ‘Setswana is not allowed beyond this point’. Such signs have left many Setswana teachers in a predicament not knowing how to encourage their students to practice the Setswana language. The Setswana debates will therefore support the work of the Setswana teachers who in many instances have felt marginalized by an English dominated curriculum. The challenges for the debaters are obvious. Some of the motions will result with terminology challenges. Because the Setswana language has been starved to function in a number of domains, many debaters will find it difficult to express themselves seamlessly in the Setswana language since many terms haven’t been coined to address some technological developments. Such challenges will therefore lead to linguistic creativity and the formation of fresh phraseology and terminologies. We must therefore thank DMA for their focus and for calling all of us to reconsider engaging with each other at a higher intellectual level in Setswana. The Ministry of Education and Skills Development and the Botswana Education Hub also deserve much praise for sponsoring the lion share of these debates.
Their foresight and role in the protection and promotion of the national language is most appreciated. The MoESD has in the past attracted much criticism from the public. In this instance, they have excelled and they deserve much of our praise. Ka jalo ke ba rolela hutshe; le kamoso.
