“Have policy makers erred?” implications of mother tongue education for preprimary schooling in Uganda
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch University
Abstract
The Uganda language-in-education policy is silent about pre-primary schooling. This level of education is largely in the hands of private individuals who, because of wide-spread misconceptions about learning and acquiring English in Uganda (as in many other African countries), instruct pre-primary school learners in English. This article demonstrates how this omission in language-in-education policy is creating competition between rural government and private schools regarding the teaching of English and the development of initial literacy. The absence of an official language policy for pre-primary schooling has also dichotomised the implementation of mother tongue education in rural areas. The policy allows rural primary schools to use mother tongue as language of learning and teaching in the first three school grades. However, whereas private schools instruct through English only, government schools to a large extent adhere to the policy, albeit with undesirable consequences. The practical implications of lack of a language-in-education policy for and minimal government involvement in pre-primary schooling are discussed in this article.
Description
CITATION: Ssentanda, M. E. 2014. “Have policy makers erred?” implications of mother tongue education for preprimary schooling in Uganda. Per Linguam : a Journal of Language Learning, 30(2): 53-68, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5785/30-3-547
The original publication is available at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za
The original publication is available at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za
Keywords
Uganda -- Language policy, Uganda -- Language and education, Uganda -- Mother tongue education, Uganda -- Early childhood development, Uganda -- Early childhood education, Uganda -- Native language -- Education, Uganda -- English -- Education
Citation
Ssentanda, M. E. 2014. “Have policy makers erred?” implications of mother tongue education for preprimary schooling in Uganda. Per Linguam : a Journal of Language Learning, 30(2): 53-68, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5785/30-3-547.