CHALLENGES OF MOTHER TONGUE AS A MEDIUM

OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS
In competitive society, many educationalists recommend that children should learn a foreign
language at primary school. Thus, many parents want their children to learn a foreign language at
private school or a foreign language course. Simply learning in your mother tongue is absolutely
no guarantee of improved learning gains in school."Teachers lack the opportunity to gain the
necessary competence and specific training in mother tongue. It is proved that with scientific
approach that children learn a foreign language quite easily when they are teenagers, because of
their brain is not made up with their mother tongue structure. In addition, teaching a foreign
language for children is easier for teachers because of childrens' enthusiasm to learn new things
so that teachers can teach a foreign language to them using toys, games, and cheerful small
talking. Things like molecule, atom, buses, aeroplanes and lecturers and professors have no
words in mother tongue. Moreover, they would be aware of different culture resulting in
increasing their overlook of world. Nevertheless, learning foreign language influence childrens'
development in many ways, it impact on them in some positive ways. In the globalized era,
learning a foreign language is priority that gives them a great deal of opportunities for their
future life and communicates different people. One of the issues that predominates discussion on
the effectiveness of English based systems is the ability of teachers to efficiently and effectively
transmit cognitive skills and values in the learners (International Institute of Educational
Planning (IIEP) 1997)Howl systems that attempt to institute policies that encourage learning
through a childs home language suffer from an acute shortage of teachers who speak or have
access to these home languages, yet one of the criteria for effective usage of local languages for
instruction is that there must be enough teachers to teach in it (Fasold 1984, p. 292; Thomas
2009, p. 90).A majority of out of school children, as earlier mentioned, are speakers of minority
languages meaning that eventually there will be a dearth of educators literate in these languages
if little is done to make quality education available to all sectors of education. This unequal
access could sour relations between ethnic groups further as dominant groups continue to benefit

from the availability of educated teachers and those marginalized are left even further
behind.Unfortunately,however, increasing the number of available teachers is not going to be
easy. However, most education systems that attempt to institute policies that encourage learning
through a childs home language suffer from an acute shortage of teachers who speak or have
access to these home languages, yet one of the criteria for effective usage of local languages for
instruction is that there must be enough teachers to teach in it (Fasold 1984, p. 292; Thomas
2009, p. 90).A majority of out of school children, as earlier mentioned, are speakers of minority
languages meaning that eventually there will be a dearth of educators literate in these languages
if little is done to make quality education available to all sectors of education.8 Increasing the
number of available teachers is not going to be easy. One of Kenyas major newspapers, the
Daily Nation, reports there is a shortage of 66,000 teachers in the country, yet pupils at a recent
awards ceremony all indicated they would rather become engineers and doctors than teachers
(Ndungu 2010).found that when teachers are not native speakers of the a childs Mother tongue
or lack sufficient training on how to carry out mother tongue based teaching, they avoid the
unknown good and regress to the known bad. That is, teachers revert to old systems of teacher
controlled interactions, where pupils are merely required to repeat content after the teacher and
given little room to ask any questions or express hesitations they may have ethnographic study of
Kenyan lessons showed that classroom interactions in English school are dominated by safe talk
without adequate support for home based language policy, schools end up encouraging an
orientation towards error free regurgitation of curriculum content rather than the expression of
ideas and interaction with new information (Stenhouse1971).One of the reasons cited for
teachers regressing to the known bad is that they often fail to implement the child-centered
teaching strategies in which they were trained and reportedly believed in because of the pressure
of high stakes examinations for their students (Capper2000, p. 18)This means teachers are more
likely to focus on acquisition of the English language, which in most cases is done through
submersion, as it is the language of examination even though the language policy advocates use
of mother tongue. In Kenya, the Ministry of Education sent out a memo in1976 to all schools to
inform them of the new policy which was ignored. Most teachers, motivated by the fact that
English would be the language of instruction in higher classes and of examinations, chose to
teach in English as a medium of instruction opposed to the mother tongue, in the mistaken belief
that the earlier it is introduced as the lingua franca the faster pupils are likely to attain

competency in it (mithwi 2002, p. 5; Bunyi 2005).This reaction received little protest from
parents and learners as many believed that submersion in the second language would help pupils
gain speedy access to greater socioeconomic opportunities(Trudell2000) This kind of training
means that teachers lack the opportunity to gain the necessary competence and specific training
in mother tongue. Teaching in African languages is not possible because of the lack of teaching
materials and trained African cadres. These problems, it is argued, can be obviated by adopting
English as a medium of instruction. On the other hand it is a well known fact that English has
both material resources, (teaching materials, literature, dictionaries, publishers, journals and so
on), and immaterial resources (knowledge and skills). These are English extrinsic arguments
which on the surface seem to be quite sound and foolproof. But the implementation of local
languages as media of instruction can be done in a restricted or gradual manner while the
material for the indigenous languages is being developed and the staff trained. English functional
arguments credit English with the capacity to unite people within a country and across nations, or
with furthering of international understanding. The multiplicity of languages renders the ideals of
mother tongue medium impracticable. Many African countries are multilingual in varying
degrees ranging from a few languages in Somalia to about 286 in Cameroon, and 400 in Nigeria
(Mkandawire, 2005). A choice of one language as a medium of instruction may be seen as the
rejection of another, this might destroy the delicate national unity (Koteyand DerHoussikian,
1977:40). Therefore to avoid the danger of divisiveness associated with the selection of a
national language, the African leaders have opted for the Europeanization of the media of
instruction. If these arguments are correct, then one fails to see how they apply to almost
linguistically homogeneous nations such as Lesotho and Swaziland where multilingualism is
absent or is almost absent, but where English instead of Sotho and Swati remains the medium of
instruction.Bambgose (1991) notes that some of the real causes of divisiveness in
African countries have nothing to do with language. Otheguy (1982) further argues that the
history of war suggests that economic, political and religious differences are prominent as
causes. Language is seldom the cause of conflict. Religious crusades and jihads rivalries between
different political parties and economic aggression tend to be the instigators of strife. In most
cases, exploitation by the elites in order to gain political and economic advantage divides the
people. Unfortunately the Africans have internalized and accepted this argument wholeheartedly.
The cost of providing education in so many Languages is considered prohibitive. But a gradual

approach would be cost effective in the long run. First of all, mother tongue education may begin
with a few selected languages based on demographic considerations or on consideration of
standardization, (i.e., languages already committed to writing), subsequently the policy can be
gradually extended to other languages as resources permit. While English is essential in Africa
for maintaining international communication and exchange, there is increasing awareness among
some African scholars and intellectuals that limiting African intellectual, academic, technical and
scientific discourse to English is inadequate and in fact counterproductive. It was against this
background that the researcher went into the field with the aim of finding out the impact of the
medium of instruction on student performance at primary school level. If we remove English as a
medium of instruction in our schools, it is a certainty that the lower-income students will never
learn to speak English well. The children of the well-to-do will find alternative means of
education and of being exposed to English in their daily lives at home, with their peers, through
television and video programs, etc. Then we shall worsen the inequity in economic opportunities
because there is no doubt that those who are fluent in English in this shrinking world of Internet
and free trade will have wider employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Learning to speak
and write in English in this age of globalization is necessary especially if we would like to be
able to compete in the knowledge-based world. Such training can best be done in a classroom but
the medium of instruction is the problem in the Kenyan education. The students will have a
painful shift at high school or college when they are required to learn engineering, medical or
accounting concepts in English. Although they were very smart, they had to keep translating all
the concepts from mother tongue to English. Connecting with the rest of the world will be
difficult if a person was using mother tongue. Mother tongue based education promotes the
mother tongue at the cost of the bridge languages that would enable the students to connect with
the rest of the world. If the school doesn't expose them to English, they will find it very hard in
mastering the language (as their parents and surroundings don't). Getting greater opportunities.
In the highly fluid world we are in, people need to be conversant with English. It is an obstinacy
to learn another language which undoubtedly gets you better service. English is becoming
dominant as a global language. Mother tongue is incorrectly used more often verbaly.Language
is evolving. The use of English in schools has been found to reduce the incidence of political
instability and conflict as it draws linguistic minorities into wider society, while the enforced use
of mother tongue. Entrenches feelings of being the Other (Prah2009,p. 154).There is however.

The risk of increased ethnicisation and even greater division within a Country if mother tongue
based learning is overly focused on. The Department for International Development (DfID)
cautions that, a narrow focus on a minority language of instruction may reinforce social and
economic marginalization (1999, p. 26)If developed extensively, the focus on local languages
may create tribal enclaves that reduce attempts abuilding a unified nation state. However, this
should not derail attempts at creating English based schools, as fragmentation concerns can be
addressed by an education system that uses learners first language for the first few years of
primary schooling as a bridge to learning the national or official language. This engages learners,
validates their culture and keeps them grounded in their identity while enabling them to integrate
with wider society. Ngugi (1986) notes that during colonial times, African children learnt to
associate their mother tongues with stupidity, humiliation and low status, and the language of the
colonizers but English, with intelligence and success. Benson (2004a, p. 2) adds that many ex
British colonies inherited mother tongue schooling as part of separate and unequal development
particularly in Kenya. This legacy of undermining local languages and placing foreign ones on a
pedestal still prevails in several developing countries. A mother tongue based education system,
however, enables the development of local languages thus increasing their value but
discouraging teachers from other communites.With urbanization few teachers favor teaching in
their mother tongue and fewer children come from the local community. Poor attitudes among
teachers believe teaching in mother tongue languages would lead to institutional
trabalism.schools taking unilateral decisions on English being the used at schools and schools
encouraging parents to promote English as the language of learning and teaching to increase
learner enrolment.

By veronica onjoro
PHD student mount kenya university
SC: Govt cant impose mother tongue as instruction medium in primary classes
The Bench also called for a decision on who would decide on the language in which
a child is comfortable with.

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The order came on a batch of petitions referred to a larger bench by a two-judge

bench of the SC in July last year.
Written by Utkarsh Anand | New Delhi | Updated: May 6, 2014 9:36 pm
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a government cannot impose a language,
including the mother tongue, as the only medium of instruction for primary
education.
A five-judge constitution bench held that imposition of a language by the state
government affects the fundamental rights of the parents and the children, who are
authorised to decide on their mother tongue.
The right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the
Constitution includes the freedom of a child to be educated at the primary stage of
school in a language of the choice of the child and the state cannot impose controls
on such choice just because it thinks that it will be more beneficial for the child if he
is taught in the primary stage of school in his mother tongue, held Justice A K
Patnaik, author of the judgment.
We, therefore, hold that a child. or on his behalf his parent or guardian, has a right
to freedom of choice with regard to the medium of instruction in which he would like
to be educated at the primary stage in school. Imposing other restrictions on the
freedom of speech and expression will be harmful to the development of the
personality of the individual citizen and will not be in the larger interest of the
nation, said the court.

The court said though experts may opine that children studying in primary classes
could learn better if they were taught in their mother tongue, the state cannot
stipulate it as a pre-condition for granting recognition to aided schools as well as
private unaided schools.
Such a compulsion, the bench said, also violates the fundamental right of the
minority and private unaided schools to carry on any occupation under Article 19(1)
(g) of the Constitution. The right to establish and administer an educational
institution will include the right of a citizen to establish a school for imparting
education in a medium of instruction of his choice, it added.
The court further held that even a linguistic minority institution cannot be
compelled to adopt a particular language as the sole medium of instruction since
their right to choice would empower them to take steps in the interests of such
minority groups.
We accordingly hold that the state has no power under Article 350A of the
Constitution to compel the linguistic minorities to choose their mother tongue only
as a medium of instruction in primary schools, it said.
The court was deciding a bunch of petitions, arising out of a notification by the
Karnataka government which sought to make Kannada the sole medium of
instruction in primary schools across the state. The SC upheld the state high court
order which had held the exercise to be untenable in law, but laid continued
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/govt-can-notimpose-mother-tongue-for-teaching-children-at-primary-level-supremecourt/#sthash.43BcG7K2.dpuf