[lg policy] Namibia ’s language policy and its effect on education -

[Theodorus du Plessis]

I remember being lambasted back in the early 90's when we (at the then
Namibian Academy of Higher Education and the Namibian Languages Society)
tried to warn the incoming government against the pushing of English (in
this part of Africa considered the absolute answer for everything that
smells like apartheid).
 
Prof. L.T. du Plessis
Direkteur/Director
Eenheid vir Taalbestuur/Unit for Language Management
Universiteit van die Vrystaat/University of the Free State
Posbus/P.O. Box 339
BLOEMFONTEIN 
9300 RSA
Tel:  +27 51-401 2405
Faks/Fax: +27 51-444 5804
E-pos/E-mail: dplesslt.hum at ufs.ac.za
Web: http://www.uovs.ac.za/etb 

>>> On 2009/10/31 at 04:33 PM, Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com>
wrote:

Namibia’s language policy and its effect on education -

by Prof Dr Andree-Jeanne Tötemeyer


  An Oshikombo is not an Oshikombo, it is a goat: Multilingualism and
the language policy for Namibian schools

Language in a multilingual country like Namibia is no simple matter.
Nobody in countries like Britain, Germany or Italy would even think
about whether the medium of instruction in schools should be any other
language but English, German and Italian, respectively. The
multilingual reality in Namibia The language scene in Namibia is so
radically different that it requires much more effort to find a
solution that will enable citizens to communicate with one another and
will allow children of different ethnicities and mother tongues to
learn effectively in a highly competitive world. There are 14 written
languages in Namibia with a standardised orthography. In addition,
there are also about 16 oral languages for which no orthography
exists.

Allow me to elaborate on the language situation as it has been
developing in Namibia since 1990. At the time of independence in 1990,
there were two official languages in the territory: Afrikaans and
English. English was, however, not used extensively before 1990 with
the result that the implementation of English as the medium of
instruction in the government schools of the Oshiwambo speaking north
during the 1980’s was unsuccessful (Harlech-Jones, 1990: 198-200).
Already during the early 19th century, Afrikaans (Cape Dutch) became
the dominant lingua franca in south and central Namibia and by the
1950s the majority of the population could communicate in Afrikaans.
Even the Finnish Mission decided on Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction in 1925.

In contrast to Anglophone African countries, English was never a
colonial language in Namibia. However, English is now the only
official language in Namibia as decided by the government 19 years
ago. The main reason given for this decision was that English is a
world language and that it would be difficult to choose any one of the
Namibian languages as the official language of the country. Afrikaans
was unacceptable to the new leaders since it was seen as the language
of oppression.  Even though only a very small minority of the
population could speak, read and write English in 1990, it was
believed that English would be a unifying force that would promote
national integration, unity and intercultural understanding.

However, progress towards proficiency in English has been very slow
since then. The Namibian National Census of 2001 (Republic of Namibia.
2001 Population and Housing Census, 2003: 47-48) reveals that English
is the home language of only 1.9% of the population. This may have
improved slightly since then.

The position of languages in the school system and other related
issues

At the time of independence in 1990 learners were receiving
instruction through the mother tongue for the first three years of
school, whereafter Afrikaans medium instruction was phased in. English
was also taught as a subject throughout all schools as was done in
South Africa, but was hardly spoken in the country at large.

As stated, English medium instruction was instituted by the newly
elected government in January 1991 with the option of, during the
first three years of schooling, mother tongue instruction or otherwise
instruction in a second language spoken locally.

Those schools opting for mother tongue instruction had to offer
English as a single subject during the first three years, whereafter
compulsory English-medium instruction in all subjects was phased in in
Grade 4.
Some schools however, did not opt for either the three years mother
tongue instruction or the Namibian indigenous or second language
option and taught in English only from Grade 1 upwards.

The sudden transition from Afrikaans-medium to English-medium
instruction in Namibian schools was problematic. Not only learners but
also most teachers were struggling with English. Both groups were
suffering from anxiety about learning and teaching through the medium
of English (Chamberlain, 1993; Melber, 1985. 15).

Within a couple of years after the abrupt switch to English medium
education, it became clear that teachers and many learners were not
enjoying education in the schools. Already in 1992-1993 both groups
were manifesting frustration with having to communicate in a language
the majority could not speak and/or understand well; discipline in
Namibian schools had deteriorated to an alarming level. Some learners
had become so rebellious and aggressive that teachers were afraid of
them.

A survey in 1993 by field workers of the Florida State University
found that 60% of the surveyed Namibian teachers were not able to
teach effectively in English. Another 25% of the teachers could not
communicate in English at all, i.e. only 15% were able to teach
effectively in English while 85% were not able (Kotzé, 1994: 11).
According to the new education system, it is not possible for a
learner to either pass or fail any exam, but if most of his/her
subjects are rated as ungraded, s/he has actually failed.

In 1993 the results of the first public examinations at the end of
Grade 10 written in English, were devastating. Only 15% of Cambridge O
Levels (Grade 10) learners in actual fact passed at the end of 1993
(Kotzé, 1994: 1-2). Parents were shocked and could not understand why
their children who had been promoted from Grades 1 to 9, many without
being required to repeat any grade, were not allowed to progress to
Grade 11. Teachers received the main blame for the outcome.

In 1999 Namibian psychologist Dr Shaun Whittaker warned that sudden
immersion in a language unfamiliar to children has failed in every
single African country that tried to implement it. To expect primary
school children to become fluent in English within three to four years
is unrealistic (Allgemeine Zeitung, 1999:4). Dr Whittaker advocated
mother tongue instruction during all primary school years with English
as a subject. He further advised that English as the medium of
instruction could be phased in gradually in the secondary school to
the stage that half of the subjects could be offered in the mother
tongue and half in English (Allgemeine Zeitung, 1999:4).

In 2000, Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, then Deputy Director Language Centre,
University of Namibia, now Deputy Minister of Education also warned as
follows: “Namibia cannot with one language promote indigenous
development especially, when that language is not indigenous. We as a
nation need to promote and preserve our …. indigenous languages”
(Ndjoze-Ojo, 2000: 81).

In 2001, more than half of Namibian Grade 10 learners “failed”,
resulting in enormous numbers of teenagers being out of school. They
are not allowed to repeat Grade 10 in school but only through the
difficult mode of distance learning with Namcol. Those who “failed”
Grade 12 are also not allowed to repeat Grade 12 in school.

According to a UNICEF survey on reading skills of Grade 6 learners in
Africa in 2003, only 7.6% of all Namibian Grade 6 learners could read
English well, while another 25.9% possessed minimum reading
competency. Two-thirds of Namibian Grade 6 learners could not read
English. It is even possible that many of them could not read at all,
since not all schools had opted for mother tongue instruction during
the first three years of schooling.

In the same survey, UNICEF established that in Kenya where only 69% of
all Kenyan children attend primary school, almost two thirds of Grade
6 learners could read well and another 20% could read with minimum
competency. One difference to Namibia is that in Kenyan primary
schools, the medium of instruction is mainly in the national language
Kisuaheli (Menges, 2003: 1-2; Legal Assistance Centre Issue 15, 2004
July: 11-12). This African language is spoken by more than 50 million
people in East Africa.

Namibia came third on the UNESCO list for gender parity in African
schools during the 2005 Education for All Schools Survey, but average
Namibian statistics may be misleading. Whereas gender parity is the
case in some regions, in the historically most disadvantaged regions
such as Kavango, Caprivi and Kunene, it is not.

Gender disparity in Kavango is similar to Nigeria, Ghana and Congo
Republic with only 39% girls as compared to 61% boys in Grades 11 and
12 (Laubscher, 2005: 3).

In 1993/94, 86% of all school-age children attended school and in 2005
UNESCO, based on its survey Education for All, considered Namibia as
one of the leaders in Africa as far as school attendance is concerned
(Laubscher, 2005: 3). School attendance in Namibia is on a downward
trend, however.

According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Public Policy
Research in 2009 (Allgemeine Zeitung, 2009: 1), only 81% of all
school-age children are presently attending school. In 2006 the Second
Millennium Development Goals Report Namibia (p.11) indicated that in
that year, 10 000 learners dropped out of school.

The effect of the language policy on senior secondary and tertiary
education

By 2004 only 41% of Grade 10 learners graduated to Grade 11. Of boys
of that age, 60% were not in senior secondary school. The Institute
for Public Policy Research (Booysen, 2004: 8) found that 80% of the
learners from the Karas and Hardap regions who wrote the International
General Certificate for Secondary Education (IGCSE) Grade 12
examination in 2003 did not meet the minimum qualifications for
admission to the civil service and only 11% qualified for admission to
local tertiary institutions. The University of Cambridge Local
Examinations Syndicate evaluates more than 2 million students from 165
countries.

Their finding was that Namibian IGCSE candidates achieved far worse
symbols in 2003 than the average for all other countries, the majority
being African countries.

The University of Namibia offers a four-year bachelors degree using
the first year as a bridging year to improve competency in English and
to bring several other subjects up to university first year level. I
have lectured to these students for many years, the cream of the
Namibian senior secondary school leavers, and can testify to the poor
English writing proficiency of the majority.

The effect of this state of affairs is a serious impediment to the
development of higher education in Namibia. The number of students who
gain access to higher education is too small and the majority is not
equipped for competitive and independent study and research.

The effect of poor secondary school exam results on the country at
large

My greatest concern is the thousands of young people walking the
streets after not being successful in the Grade 10 examinations. What
use does a results certificate with ungraded ratings have? What
prospects do these young people have of making a proper living? Their
future does not look promising but rather bleak.

I will not suggest any recommendations at this stage, but will in
conclusion ask a number of questions which we could or rather should
consider during our deliberations:

1. Are we not making unfair demands on Namibian learners and their
teachers with the language policy for Namibian schools?

2. Do we realise how difficult it is for primary school learners to
cope with a language of instruction they do not understand, their
parents do not understand and particularly in the rural areas where
60% of the population is domiciled, is hardly spoken outside the
schools?

3. Do we realise how difficult it is for a learner who was not
promoted to Grade 11, to successfully repeat Grade 10 through the
distance learning mode? This particularly when his/her main problem
for “failure” in the first place was poor comprehension of and writing
skills in English?

4. We know that there are teachers whose qualifications are not up to
standard but is it fair to blame mainly the teachers for poor
examination results and the lacking discipline in schools? Why is
absenteeism of teachers a problem? Have these teachers maybe lost all
enthusiasm for the profession because they cannot cope properly with
English and the new curriculum?

5. Is it fair to blame only the learners for disobedience and
absenteeism in the schools? Do some of them not perhaps behave this
way out of desperation because they feel misunderstood and frustrated
due to their incompetence in English?

6. Are we taking cognisance of the desperate psychological climate in
many schools and also among unsuccessful school leavers?

7. Is the language policy not reinforcing inequalities and the
perpetuation and creation of minority elites who get the jobs because
they are fluent in English?

8. Why are our efforts to improve proficiency in English in the
schools not successful?

9. Why are some parents and educators ashamed of their mother tongue
and culture, considering them as being inferior to English?

According to Louw (1998: 23) in a survey of language preferences of
Namibian school leavers, percentages of school leavers who wanted
their children to be taught in the mother tongue as their first
language were 100% of German speakers, 49% of Afrikaans speakers and
only 17.4% of Khoekhoegowab speakers. Forty-one (41) % of the latter
group denied their mother tongue and insisted that they were English
speaking, 47% of Otjiherero speakers did the same.

In comparison, 75% of all parents in Holland want their children to be
instructed in the mother tongue for their whole school career;
generally mother tongue education is accepted worldwide, as a sine qua
non, but not in Africa.

In a letter published in the New Era of August 19, 2005, N. K. Mbaeva,
teacher of history and Otjiherero at a Windhoek secondary school,
complains that “where kids are taught to speak a second language at
the expense of the mother tongue, (it) creates a semi-lingual society
…. They don’t speak any language properly … Africans, for how long are
we going to regard everything African as second best? ... Our
self-image, our culture and our identity are tarnished as we regard
our own language as inferior to English … Learners who have gone
through English medium from pre-school up to Grade 12 are still
illiterate! … The official language in a multilingual society must not
be promoted at the expense of national languages … a nation without a
culture is like a tree without roots … We don’t have roots – therefore
we do not acquire knowledge. A tree gets minerals and water through
its roots.”

Conclusion

I conclude with only two broad conditions for learning; there are many
more specific ones:

1. A child has to understand what he/she is supposed to learn and if a
child doesn’t understand the language of the learning materials he/she
can’t learn. If a rural Oshindonga or Oshikwanyama speaking child sees
a picture of a goat in his school reader and enthusiastically declares
that this is an “oshikombo”, only to be told that this is wrong, the
animal is a “goat,” are we not confusing the child and confounding his
learning?

2. A child has to be enthusiastic about and enjoy learning, otherwise
he/she will not have the necessary drive to enquire for more. If
learners struggle to master an unknown language and to express
themselves in it, how can they enjoy learning?

Instead of joy, anxiety sets in. Learning can only flourish where the
education system enables learners to taste achievement, enables them
to gain understanding of themselves, other people and the world they
are living in, in a happy and relaxed school environment. This is
presently not the climate in most Namibian schools. The various
cultures do not fit into the system at all.

Learners not only have problems to cope with the study materials,
learners of different cultures are also not being enabled to learn
from one another in a dialogue that helps them gain confidence in
their own identity and develop understanding of the cultures of other
Namibians.

I will close with two quotations, the first from Mahatma Ghandi: “I
want the winds of all cultures to circulate freely around my house,
but I don’t want to be blown over by any one of them.” The second
quotation is from Carpenter (as quoted by Calvert, 1992: 24): “To
neglect a language is to sabotage a culture.”

References
Allgemeine Zeitung, 2009: Städtische Dienste verlieren Wettlauf durch
Zuzug. 20. Mai: 1.
Booysen, Dani, 2004: Onderwys se silwer rand taan. Republikein 11
November: 8-9
Calvert, PJ, 1992: The irrelevance of public libraries in the South
Pacific. Sites: a journal for radical perspectives on culture Summer
25: 24-38.

Chamberlain, Dick, 1993: The impact of the language policy for schools
in Namibia. Namibia: Ministry of Education and Culture, October 1993.

Chamberlain, R, A Diallo and E J John, 1981: Toward a language policy
for Namibia. Lusaka: United Nations Institute for Namibia.

Dierks, Klaus, 2003: Chronologie der namibischen Geschichte von der
vorgeschichtlichen Zeit zum unabhängigen Namibia (2000). Zweite
erweiterte Auflage. Windhoek: Namibia Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft,
2003. ISBN 99916-40-39-8.

Kotzé, Carol, 1994: Bad English is killing education. Tempo 13th March:
11
Kotzé, Carol, 1994: Uitslae dui op ramp vir leerling in Namibië. Tempo
13th March: 1-2
Laubscher, Nicolette, 2005: Namibië derde in Afrika. Republikein 20
Junie: 3.
Legal Assistance Centre, 2004: Gender disparities in education. Issue
15 July: 11 and Quality education for all? Issue 15 July: 12

Mbaeva, N K, 2005: Our language barrier in learning (We are killing
our roots). New Era 19th August: 9.
Melber, Henning, 1985: Ein sprachloses Volk stirbt einen lautlosen
Tod: Fremdherrschaft, Befreiungskampf und Dekolonisation – Probleme
der Sprachpolitik für ein unabhängiges Namibia, Osnabrücker Beiträge
zur Sprachteorie (Sprachkonkurenz und gesellschaftliche Planung: das
Erbe des Kolonialismus), September (31.
Menges, Werner, 2003: Schools not up to the mark. Namibian 12
December:1-2.

Menges, Werner. 2003: Only one in 14 in Grade 6 pupils are literate,
says Unicef. Namibian 16 December:1-2.
Ndjoze-Ojo, Becky, 2000: Can one language achieve indigenous
development? Pp. 79-81 in Education in perspective: Namibia’s first
decade: a commemorative book to mark Namibia’s tenth anniversary
edited by Earle Taylor. Windhoek: Government of the Republic of
Namibia. Ministry of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science
and Technology, 2000. ISBN 0-86976-526-4.

Whittaker, Shaun, 1999: Zwischen hemmender und kreativer
Vielsprachigkeit. [Summary of an English paper in German by Eberhard
Hoffmann], Allgemeine Zeitung Freitag 18. Juni 1: 4.

• This is a keynote speech presented at the 9th Annual Conference of
the University of Namibia, Oshakati Campus on Research of Namibia’s
Language Policy and its Effects on Accessing Higher Education, October
15-16, 2009.

http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=7944

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