Dikgosi pressure Goya on local languages
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday October 31, 2017 18:00
This is despite the advice from the assistant Minister of Basic Education, Moiseraela Goya that the government does not have enough money and resources to implement the motion.
Goya told the chiefs that the government does not have a problem with the motion, but it cannot be implemented because it needs research to be done on how many languages the country has, teaching aids for materials on those languages and the number of teachers the undertaking would need.
“We know that research has shown that children understand better when taught in mother tongue language than any other. That is why our ministry has asked parents to assist teachers when there is such a problem. Again, my ministry has informed school managements to communicate if they do faced such a problem in schools so that we could look for translators,” Goya said.
Kgosi Rapelang Khuwe of Tutume region presented to NYD that the time has arrived for government to consider using mother tongue languages in schools since it is the languages children would understand better.
“Some children fear to go to school because of communication break down. We have parents who do not speak Setswana and English at their homes.
Setswana and English get introduced to them at primary school and it takes time for them to understand what the teacher is teaching them. We are a developing country. Let’s change the way we look into things because even our neighbouring countries like Namibia, amongst others, have done so,” Khuwe said.
He said he did not have a problem with Setswana and English, but it must be understood that not all Batswana spoke those two languages.
Kgosi Tshipe Tshipe of Mahalapye region said, “the motion was good, but there were a lot of challenges regarding the practicability of the idea. Setswana and English were meant to unite the nation. I disagree that most of children who refuse to go to school is because of the issue of languages. Some use that as an excuse”.
Kgosi Isaac Titus (special elected) said; “We need to protect and conserve our languages. The languages could be taught in their regions first. We cannot preserve our languages if we are failing to teach them. We cannot be stuck on two languages forever. This is the right time for government to re-consider certain things”.
Kgosi Disho Ndhowe of Okavango region said failure to teach children in their mother tongue languages has affected them badly because some had to change their names to Setswana for teachers to be able to pronounce them.
“The teachers could not help a child to write in Mbukushu. In our area, our children do not speak Setswana easily. They use their mother tongue language when they speak. These issues needs to be considered,” Ndhowe said.