Promote local languages, but their future is bleak

Children reading at the National Library in Kigali. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The emphasis on the English language from the very formative stages is good for our learners. We have to prepare them for their rightful roles in the ever-changing vistas in the world stage.

  • We should not dismiss the widely accepted reality that English is an important instrument of communication and instruction the world over.

  • Will your new graduate doctor, engineer, lawyer learner who is a master in the local languages be as effective in the outside world with his or her local language?

  • Five, with no clear policy statement, no workable action plan and no person taking charge and guiding the nation in a clear and definite roadmap, we are obviously groping in darkness.

I read with amused interest Samuel Chege’s article titled "Why are we killing local languages?’" (Saturday Nation, March 14). He put forward a thought-provoking but not quite convincing argument.

One: as a teacher, he is concerned about the emphasis we give to English vis-a-vis our native languages. Two: he says learners are introduced to English too early in life. Three: learners, from the formative stages, are made to idealise the English language or white people as superior.

Four: he says that the widely acknowledged idea that English is an international language is just a form of social imperialism. He concludes by asking: “Just when (will) Africa emancipate itself from the chains of colonialism?”

On March 21, Bernard Bonyo wrote to support Chege in an article titled "Teachers should not discourage students keen on mother tongue".

I did not entirely agree with him. However, on the following issues I concur:

  • One’s mother tongue is a vehicle of cultural expression and should be encouraged.

  • Mother tongue has lots of career opportunities for our children.

  • Local languages are capable of transmitting the most modern scientific knowledge and expressing the often overlooked traditional scientific knowledge Africans are endowed with.

  • The relevant organs and line ministries responsible for the development, nurturing and placement of L1 in its proper place seem detached from the realities involved.

I want to add my viewpoint to this discussion.

One, the emphasis on the English language from the very formative stages is good for our learners. We have to prepare them for their rightful roles in the ever-changing vistas in the world stage. Cultural loyalty notwithstanding, who can truly and honestly claim to be a champion of or for his or her local language?

I suspect that the recent directive by Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi that mother tongue/vernacular be the medium of instruction from Standard One to Three is because our learners need a well-grounded foundation in language and not out of cultural considerations.

Mr Kaimenyi was possibly silent about Standard Four and beyond because of the truth that we currently have universal languages that should be developed from upper primary because it is right to do so.

Two, we should not dismiss the widely accepted reality that English is an important instrument of communication and instruction the world over. No teacher deliberately and consciously sets out to muffle the use of L1 in our schools.

Three, no language is superior to another. It is about usage, not heritage. English is functional in Nairobi, Pretoria, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Newcastle, New York, New Zealand, New Delhi. Will your new graduate doctor, engineer, lawyer learner who is a master in the local languages be as effective in the same places with his or her local language?

Four, if by preparing our children for effortless adjustment in their career life in the ever "globalising" world is tantamount to imperialism, then so be it. The essence of a productive career life is communication, not culture. This is a delicate matter of great cultural import. Possibly that’s why we all seem upbeat on what should be done.

Five, with no clear policy statement, no workable action plan and no person taking charge and guiding the nation in a clear and definite roadmap, we are obviously groping in darkness. As a nation we have definitely not done enough to convince and satisfy everyone that something is going on in the right direction. 

The writer teaches English and Literature at Moi High School, Kabartonjo 

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Literature sales linked to our reading culture

By Peel Maina Macharia 

That there is an abundance of writing talent in the country cannot be disputed. That the public is not reading literature enough can be admitted. Many literary enthusiasts have sought to show the cause of poor sales of fiction in the country.

Sometimes, the publisher and his editor have found themselves in the dock, with the literary enthusiast reading charge after charge from his file, and the writers nodding in agreement in the court of public opinion.

Some of the claims are credible. However, I agreed with one publisher who, in these pages, stated that publishers are, basically, businessmen. They will only publish what will sell and bring profit to them and the writer. But why shouldn’t fiction sell? Why do some publishers claim that publishing school textbooks is the only safe and dependable source of income?

It is because the reading of fiction in Kenya has not grown. In the 1980s and 1990s, one well-written novel would make the writer famous. Reading, especially for educated people, was a favourite engagement.

Even now, I still find my students reading John Kiriamiti’s My Life in Crime and Mwangi Gicheru’s Across the Bridge, written in the 1970s.

Although modernity and the mass media have affected the reading culture, the fire of literature is still burning bright.

Observant individuals will note that the new generation of writers are taking literature to a new level. Writers are not sitting back once their works are published.

Instead, they are using social media to market their works, network with other writers and use literature to provoke conversation about issues affecting Africa.

Comparatively young publishers like Kwani? and groups like Jalada are breaking borders to connect writers and readers and introduce them to new themes to the world.

I believe Kenyan literature can do with some aggressive marketing from mainstream publishers. Once awareness is created, curiosity will be aroused and intellectuals like Egara Kabaji can lead discussions on Kenyan books. It is a brave new dawn for all. 

The writer is a teacher of English in Murang’a County. 

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This is why final exams appear easy

By Edwin Oteya 

I write to comment on writer Edson Terewa’s recent article on the high number of top grades in national exams. Terewa’s piece was well researched, hence factual. He lamented the high number of grade A (plain) and First Class (honours) degrees. He also gave the reasons for this, and the demerits of the same.

A friend of mine explained to me the magic in today’s education that produces graduates with excellent papers. He expounded factors like the banning of repeating, lack of corporal punishment, democratic election of prefects, et al., as having made students unleash their best in national examinations.

In addition, a colleague illustrated how finishing a syllabus that is meant to take four years in two years, followed by thorough topical revision, turns Es into As.

This, with the aid of highly summarised revision textbooks, exam papers with projected questions and selective or fair marking and grading, talks on how to tackle exam help to prepare candidates.

A recent survey showed that about 20 per cent of teachers are usually absent from school. This is according to the report Global Monitoring Report: Education for All 2000-2015.

Does this mean students do well despite the absence of their teachers? Also, the same report said that a number of teachers do not understand the curriculum. However, my take is that, as Terewa wrote, we should reflect to see if our education system is efficient and effective. 

The writer is a freelance journalist and teacher of English and Literature. [email protected] 

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Allow pop music at festivals but ensure students don’t ape idols 

By Edwin Oteya 

During a recent music teachers’ workshop in Kisumu, the executive secretary of the Kenya Music Festival, Benson Abwao, announced that Western pop music would feature in the annual August music festivals.

He said that in the "Zilizopendwa" category, there would be a new entrant — pop music from the rest of the world — in addition to Zilizopendwa from Kenya and the rest of the world.

Thus, students in secondary schools, colleges and universities will compete singing the golden oldies sang before the year 2000 by the likes of Dolly Parton, Abba, Westlife, Mark Antony and other musicians from all over the world.

This is indeed a welcome development that will add variety to the event. The audience will be treated to a nostalgic, down-memory-lane kind of music, the kind that reminds one of KBC English Service’s "Midday Melodies", "Beat Time" and "Sundowner".

Also, the entertainment value of the festivities will be heightened; music greats and legends will be remembered, cherished, immortalised and honoured.

Likewise, the adjudicators will simply be comparing and contrasting as they rank the performers. This will be based on the performers’ strength and weaknesses in imitation vis-a-vis the original production.

The best thing, however, is that budding musicians will learn that message through the right language is the essence of great songs and not just rhyming words, beats, erotic dancing and dressing.

But, on the other hand, this category will be lacking in originality and replete with plagiarism. It will produce imitators in lieu of creative and innovative works.

Furthermore, there will be a plethora of lazy performers whose task will be just to listen, watch and ape the golden oldies and then regurgitate them. In the end, we shall see our musicians only producing remixes.

Added to this will be the danger of the young in mind aping their pop idols’ habits. For instance, despite Bob Marley’s classic productions, one can adopt his marijuana smoking habit. I would opine that the categories be put under genres and let the students come up with their own compositions on the selected genre. 

The writer is a freelance journalist and teacher of English and Literature based in Nairobi. 

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We have heard you, Binyavanga Wainaina 

By Oduor Obura 

I found Binyavanga Wainaina’s article last week (Saturday Nation, May 2), an interesting read. Reminiscent of his famous online "coming-out" story, "I Am a Homosexual, Mum" (January 2014), the article carries the revelatory theme of homosexuality, in a country where people are bogged down by other urgencies.

Evidently, the article displays Wainaina’s creative depth and his ease with the muses. He weaves together the violent South Africa setting and his own personal turmoil and search for sexual belonging.

The subtle introduction and sustenance of his gay "writivist" agenda is a masterpiece. The article has a highly emotional angle and thus it elicits a critical response.

Everyone is entitled to their liberal tastes in life. And none, I suggest, should constantly harass the other over unclear ghosts fighting within. Literature is a mirror of the society, to use the cliché. Literature, on the other hand, has the quality of an agent provocateur, as it were.

In Binyavanga’s hands, literature is a "sextivist" tool that seeks to campaign for people of divergent thoughts to align themselves to his choices. By openly, and publicly, lobbying for sympathy, he seeks our support and, perhaps, subscription to his script.

The founding editor of Kwani? bravely bears many feathers in his literary hat. He has Africa in his heart. His literary pen is graced with a satire that brings to fore the pains of the "dark" continent. He pains on how to present or represent Africa on the global stage.

His overriding thematic concern, which is often subtly painted, is the gay question. The picture of home as a predator on his choices betrays his fears about his root in "Discovering Home", the short story that catapulted him to literary fame.

We, yes, have heard you, but we are busy with our stuff, too. We are busy with aphrophobes and the biting Nairobi cold, and the Bondo heat.

We are busy trying to get publishers to acknowledge our rotting poetry and short story manuscripts.

We do not come counting our past escapades and partners to uninterested parties.

We come tolerant.

We are not interested in sex typing.