Malawi will in this coming year be joining six other African countries in using local languages, familiar to the areas where learners come from, as medium of instruction at primary school education level.
Currently apart the six; Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia only Tanzania has a policy of using one language of Swahili.
Head of the University of Malawi’s Centre for Language Studies Professor Al Mtenje said since the Malawi Government requested the centre to do research on acceptability of policy using pupils familiar languages in classes 1-4 at Primary school level, the issue is about to be concluded.
“All what is remaining is to push for a speedy approval and enactment of the policy,” said Mtenje.
In 1996 Ministry of Education sent circular announcing a new policy which permitted use of pupils’ mother tongues as media of instruction from Standard 1- 4 and that English shall take over as a medium of instruction from Std 5 onwards.
“Policy was motivated by fact that research had shown that pupils learn better in own languages,” he said but said since there was no research done in Malawi to justify adoption of new policy the centre was engaged to start the process,” he said.
There has however been mixed public reactions where other quarters fear the new policy could negatively affect position of English language in the country.
Mtenje however, said the research findings have shown that an overwhelming majority support policy although with conditions.
“They say Malawi can have the policy provided the position of English is not affected and that materials are made available and teachers trained in new methodologies,” he said.
At a 1999 National Language Symposium organized by the centre to discuss research results and define way forward a Language Task Force was formed to manage process of developing policy and having it approved.
Since the Malawi government does not have any pre-school the task force has commended to Government to assist institutions running such schools by training teachers in use of familiar local languages and encouraging the provision of materials in local languages.
The Policy suggest that English should be the medium of instruction at secondary and tertiary levels while the study of other African languages like Swahili and Zulu shall also be introduced in all education levels in Malawi.
“Local and foreign research has shown that children achieve better educational outcomes and cognitive development when taught in a familiar language,” said Mtenje who added that familiar language facilitates the adjustment and transition from home to school and hence good for child’s psychological and sociological support.
He said Malawi has now established that learning tasks like reading through a familiar language first equips the child with useful skills which are transferred to the learning of a second language and hence makes it easy.
“Unfamiliar school language in Malawi often results in pupil absenteeism, failure, repetition and eventual dropping out besides causing pupils’ lack of attention in class, indiscipline, non-participation and dislike for teachers,” Mtenje explained.
Those that have been advocating for the continued use of African language have said African languages cannot express scientific, intellectual and technical concepts
“This policy will only encourage disunity and ethnicity in the country and multilingual education is too expensive for a poor country like Malawi,” said Sydney Mwafulirwa an English Teacher at … Grammar School
He insisted that the policy is a trick for a few elites to make other children uneducated in English while their own learn in English medium schools
Professor Mtenje said all these are just myths as they cannot be justified by facts.
Head of the Government’s Primary Curriculum and Assessment Review Davie Kaambankadzanja said Malawi has over 16 languages and the policy will have challenges when it comes to using the textbooks in terms of terminologies and even orthographies.
“Delays in resolving relevant policy issues like the school language policy and the school textbook policy will also bring problems in facilitating the policy in full swing,” said Kaambankadzanja who also said pointed at acute shortage of qualified teachers as another hurdle.
“In spite of the challenges, Malawi hopes for a better curriculum from this reform process because we believe quality education is the responsibility of everybody,” he said.