Minister stop the cultural genocide of Botswana’s indigenous languages

Imagine a six-year-old boy named Ndiye, eagerly starting Standard 1 for the first time. Having grown up in a Kalanga-speaking household, Ndiye was nurtured by the warmth of his parents’ and grandparents’ stories (ngano), rich with metaphors and cultural wisdom. On his first day of school, he arrives excited to learn and make friends. But within minutes of stepping into the classroom, his excitement begins to fade. His teacher speaks only Setswana and English—languages he barely understands. The familiar sounds of iKalanga are absent.

As the weeks go by, Ndiye learns that his language is not welcome in the classroom. If he accidentally speaks Kalanga, he is corrected, ignored, or harshly rebuked. Over time, he stops speaking Kalanga altogether, ashamed of his “otherness” and desperate to fit in. By the end of the year, Ndiye has lost not only his enthusiasm for learning but also a part of himself. His language, the foundation of his identity, has been erased.