Mother tongue hot potato
Tefo Pheage | Friday May 20, 2016 15:34
Others include the University of Botswana San Research Centre and the Botswana Congress Party, amongst others. Shaheed called on the country to embark on a “second phase of nation building that reflects, builds on and celebrates the rich cultural diversity of the country”. She observed: “While the use of Setswana as the national language has enabled most people in the country to communicate with each other, mother tongue education in the first years of schooling is certainly a way forward”.
She said: “The risk of further disadvantage incurred upon children in remote areas who have no or minimal exposure to Setswana in their families and communities, in particular those residing in hostels without family support systems, is significant”.
To date, the government has not yet fully complied with its international treaty obligations and norms for ensuring provision of education using mother tongue, which is noted as critical for early childhood and breakthrough in the education of Basarwa, probably explaining the high dropout rates and failure of the Basarwa children in the school system.
Education scholars still write that the examination items biased by a Tswana language and curricular are still attributable to the high failure rate for Basarwa children in the primary and secondary school despite the Remote Area Dwellers Programme (RADP) support system.
The San Research Centre is of the opinion that an area that is still glaring is that of the language development for the Basarwa.
“Use of non-mother tongue for Basarwa children in the national school system to date still effectively denies Basarwa children equal opportunity to free education otherwise, enjoyed by other national communities.
“Government needs to reflect on San education and consider reviewing its educational policy and put relevant measures in place to implement the policy such as researching on the indigenous languages, training teachers in indigenous languages, printing relevant materials on indigenous languages, etc.
“Again the government needs to respect who the San are and consult them on their educational problems but there is enough research to back up the San voices,” the centre stated in response to Mmegi.