By Abwao Oluoch
PANA Correspondent
Windhoek, Namibia (PANA) - Nearly half a century after
most African countries gained independence, the fight
against language dominance in the continent is at its peak
with daggers drawn in the battle to reshape Africa.
African scholars vouching for the full re-integration of
local languages into the education systems say the
colonial education system put in place by former colonial
powers served the purposes for which they were meant well.
"This colonial vision of Africa should and can no longer
be the vision for contemporary Africa," say authors of a
draft policy which, when ratified by African education
ministers in 2006, may be used as a launching pad for the
use of African languages in schools.
"The current language policy and education system worked
well and succeeded under the colonial system in developing
the leadership needed and in training the manpower
required for the Africa envisioned by the colonial
powers," the authors argue.
Educational systems with a leaning towards African
languages will be successful if the social and economic
environment values African languages to an extent that
qualified professionals in the languages will be rewarded
with positions with chances for growth.
Experts say failure by African governments to promote the
use of African languages is largely to blame for the poor
implementation of policy proposals and research findings
mainly because the language is not understandable to
politicians.
"The findings of research are not effectively used because
the results are not accessible to the decision-makers
because of the language used. We must interrogate
ourselves and ask researchers to give realistic answers to
our problems," said Mamadou Ndoye, the secretary-general
of a Paris-based education think-tank known as the
Association for the Development of Education in Africa
(ADEA).
"African decision-makers blame researchers because of
their lack of realism in policy recommendations. They must
be aware of good practices and make suggestions which are
acceptable with regard to the economic realities," Ndoye
cautioned.
Ndoye said effective use of African languages would
improve implementation of policies and help African
governments go beyond the problems conveyed by
researchers.
"The message must be accessible and acceptable to the
decision-makers," he said during the opening session of a
conference on bilingual education and the use of local
languages here.
Namibian Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba said his
government is implementing policies aimed at integrating
mother-tongue education into the schooling system based on
research findings that local languages are an effective
means of communication.
Researchers say the resistance by African politicians on
the adoption and implementation of native-language-
friendly policies in schools and official domains, mainly
in the conduct of official government business, is a
result of make-believe claims by colonialists that use of
African languages promotes ethnic animosity within a
nation.
"The culture of schooling was to serve colonial interests.
The project was to create a colonial powerhouse, it was
therefore important that African languages were
disqualified as not being capable of being used for
training as a medium of instruction," argued Adama Ouane,
the Director of the UNESCO Institute of Education in
Germany.
"There is a big effort we have to go through to modify
African languages to be used to define technology," he
asserted during a news conference here Tuesday evening.
The conference ends Friday.
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