The Sunday News
Johnsias Mutonhori, Midlands Correspondent
SPEAKER of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has called for a new educational framework that promotes teaching of academic subjects in vernacular languages, arguing that it promotes sustainable development and easy passage of cultural values from generation to generation.
Speaking at the launch of the African Language Week commemoration at Midlands State University (MSU) in Gweru where he was the guest speaker last week, Advocate Mudenda said it was important that the education sector recognises African languages.
The commemorations were running under the theme: “African languages for sustainable food security, cultural and economic development for the Africa we want” and were conducted by the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in partnership with MSU’s National Language Institute.
MSU
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should embark on a rigorous curriculum development for the entire education sector in respect of the officially recognised indigenous languages.
Universities and colleges should also undertake systematic research on the growth and development of the indigenous languages more than what they are doing now and concerted efforts should be put in place to train qualified teachers to teach the official indigenous languages at all levels of our education sector including science,” said Adv Mudenda.
He noted that the efforts to train and teach in indigenous languages going to be in line with the African Union that developed a protocol that recognises the right of every child to receive education in their mother tongue.
“This is a salient protocol which acknowledges the pedagogical and psychological need to use the mother tongue in the teaching and learning of pupils during their primary education as this is the most formative years of the learners,” he said.
Advocate Jacob Mudenda
Reflecting on the UNESCO conference held in Zimbabwe in collaboration with Intergovernmental Conference on Language Policies in Africa, Advocate Mudenda said, the crafting of language policy should be buttressed by parliamentary action for legal permissibility.
“Guideline for language policy formulation should be sanctioned by legislative action for ease of legal enforceability. Every country’s policy framework should be flexible enough to allow each community to use its language side-by-side with other languages while at the same time giving provision for multilingualism,” he said.
The Speaker of Parliament noted that native language of the different tribes of African societies substantiates sustainable development and cultural conservation.
“We ought, therefore, to preserve our indigenous languages, cultures and heritage in a manner that will promote sustainable development for the Africa we want although I prefer the Africa we need,” said Adv Mudenda.
MSU’s National Language Institute was instrumental during the lockdown period through informing the public about Covid-19 in vernacular languages.
Recently the Institute translated the Highway Code into Shona and Ndebele to open doors to those who are not conversant in English but would want to take driving lessons.
