E. Ablorh-Odjidja
October 19, 2015
We have been here before. This issue, it appears, never seems to
die. Imagine the Minister of Education of all people
saying this, if “we can remove English, as the
medium of instruction, we will change this country.”
Indeed, we can, but only to our detriment. This "mother
tongue" proposal is utter nonsense; a bad experiment
that is bound to fail, leaving in its wake a mass of
generational destruction.
But this being Ghana, our mutual penchant for new ideas, no matter how
much fangled, will soon outpace common sense.
And in one flush, this silly idea will wipeout
all the valiant efforts of our excellent educationists of the past.
Hearing a Minister touting this change as a proven cure-all for the
failings and ills within our current educational
system, you know we have arrived at that flushing
point.
No surprise here. The
same intellectual poseurs who brought us the
disastrous shorter years for preparatory entry into
tertiary education are at it again with this mother
tongue idea.
The shorter preparatory years may have had an experimental intent.
But knowing that the results are not in, nor
analyzed yet for their successes and failings, makes
this introduction of “mother tongue” this early a
very dangerous gesture, even before anything
happens.
As we watch, the enthusiasm for the change to “mother tongue” is growing
fast, at the same speed as the educational disaster
that is likely to follow.
Conversations with some who are familiar with this novel idea have
turned up the following supposed advantages for the
language project.
1. That the "mother tongue" concept is UNESCO backed and the process
promises better educational outcomes.
2. That
children are more likely to stay in school and
succeed more in their mother tongue.
3. That
parents are more likely to participate in the
education of their kids.
4. That children will
develop better-thinking skills and thought power
through the native language.
All the above has promising advantages, but I am still left confused as
to why the same outcomes cannot be achieved under
the current conventional system, where mother
tongues are used in their localities.
That kids are failing in our schools because they cannot learn and
comprehend subjects when taught in the English
language as the medium seems to suggest that the
system has ignored the local mother tongue as the
first step.
Or, could it be that the comprehension
problem is due to a lack of pedagogical skills?
I propose that this is a blame shift. Poor pedagogical skills of
teachers may be one of many reasons within our
schooling system.
To use history as a reference point, it is not as if our entire
educational process started with sudden immersion in
the English language as the teaching medium at our
primary schools. Almost all within the educational
system started with the local “mother tongue” as the
must tool.
We had immeasurable successes with the old system in the past.
Indeed, there was a time when Ghana was the
showcase for the best educational system and
educators on the continent of Africa.
Then there came the various tampering.
And the disappointments began to show.
Instead of stopping at this point to take
measures of what has gone wrong in education, we are
rather suggesting this novel approach of “mother
tongue.”
The tragic part is the feigning attempt at a solution when what is wrong
with the educational system is something else.
Right there in our faces are crumbling physical and inadequate
structures of buildings that once were described as
good school buildings.
Surely, one cannot blame crumbling facilities
on the English language.
Inadequate funding and poor facilities may be it.
Inept administrators and governmental neglect
may be another.
These are the very issues that this education
minister who is complaining about mother tongue in
schools is supposed to be in charge of.
By the way, I visited a camp for dogs in Harrisburg, PA (USA) the
other day and found to my amazement that the
reception area for dogs was more welcoming and the
facility had better surroundings and fixtures than
many of our current elementary schools in Ghana, to
which we send our human wards.
The comparison here is not intended as an insult; just to register my
concern and to point out what is a misplaced
priority.
A clean environment for schools matters.
In the face of the deteriorating physical
condition of our schools, any proposal for a "mother
tongue," now should simply be seen as thoughtless
and lame.
But just to advance the case for “mother tongue,” what ethnic
language would our Minister of Education suggest we
use in schools in highly multi-tribal metropolitan
areas like Accra or Kumasi?
Surely, there are potent mixtures of tribes
and tribal sentiments in these metro centers.
So which “mother” tongue goes out?
A choice of any single “mother tongue” can spell trouble.
Failure to use the local language in the
Accra area can be seen as an assault on Ga cultural
pride. even in a presumably sophisticated area such
as the capital.
We are too far gone in our use of English as the main medium for
education.
A sensible slight alteration will be to
designate the mother tongue of a cultural area as an
additional tool and stepping stone into the English
medium.
But we must note that this same seems to be the old
approach before this new education minister spoke.
The mother tongue should not replace English.
It should lead to the enhancement of the full
grasp of what is taught in the English language.
The “mother tongue” must be used as the
training wheel for the use of English.
Through the above process, Ghana was able to produce highly successful
individuals in all human endeavors, with some
reaching the highest peak in their professions.
The English language was never a handicap for
any of these individuals.
There is no reason to suppose that English poses a cultural
disadvantage.
Or destructive for the cultivation of the
African personality because it stems from our
colonial past.
Likewise, English as the ultimate tool in education cannot wipe away
one's Africa-ness. Neither can or does it impede
creativity or scholarship.
We must note that there are celebrated African writers who have created
astounding works in English.
In West Africa, it has been mostly Nigerians.
Nigerians have written more classics in English.
We in Ghana and Nigeria both inherited the
English language. But I may have missed the
point when Ghanaians became more African than
Nigerians!
And, in the sparse African literature written in English so far, it is
difficult to find translations of any in our major
local languages.
Where for instance is the translation of "Things Fall Apart," in Akan,
Ewe, Ga, or any other Ghanaian language?
Or, when in the major “mother tongues” of Ghana can we find translations
of Kofi Awunor’s poems?
Still, closer home, even writers in their Ghanaian “mother tongues”
are waiting to be translated into other tongues.
Brilliant Ga classics like "Adotey Shelen
Kome," by Rev. E. J. Klufio or the book "Blema
Sadzii Komei," by Mr. J. R. Ablorh-Odjidja, are yet
to have their works translated into in Akan and
other local languages.
At this point, we must understand the cry for "mother tongue" as the
anguish of the lazy porter who blames his head pad
for limiting the load he can carry.
UNESCO can propose the "mother tongue" and its advantages. But it falls
on our officials to know the context within which
the proposal must work.
For in this context lurks the tribal
sentiment, the perfect sinew for trouble and the
flashpoint of many of our problems.
Furthermore, there is this irony.
The bespoke "mother tongue" that could be
selected as a tool for the suggested advancement is
itself transforming our streets today. Our languages
today are being turned into variants of bastardized
English.
Our mothers who gave us the “mother tongue” do not
understand these variants!
The fact is our local languages are dying. They are not growing to
accommodate new knowledge or labels.
Occasionally, they create new words like Dumsor, which sadly denotes the
facile accommodation of our poor social
circumstances. The want of a steady supply of
electricity has thus produced the label, Dumsor, but
not a solution for what caused the shortages!
Sadly, the world we compete in is moving fast forward and in English.
Computers, the internet, genome, and other novel
words appear daily in a flash and are so named.
The conditions that produce the inventions and the
labels are universal.
Others adopt the labels so as not to waste
time.
Why not us?
We have already acquired significant assets in the English language.
It has given us easy access and clarity to
much of the existing knowledge in the world.
We have already demonstrated the exponential
ability to connect, or deal efficiently with any
part of this language in any human activities; be it
in science, arts, or business.
These are assets already gained and must not be wasted.
Nor should the momentum of the gains be
disrupted, regardless of its colonial taint.
The Minister of Education is determined "to push through the language
policy at the highest level so that school children
can be taught in their mother tongue...at all
levels”.
She would not be the first political bureaucrat to commit a
disaster.
But the area she has chosen to commit the
disaster is a highly fragile precinct. It is in the
area of education.
A negative result may be highly fungible,
spreading in all areas of expertise of the learned.
That UNESCO has proposed "Mother Tongue" as a valid tool for better
educational outcomes is not enough in itself for us
to waste away what we have already successfully
built.
To prove my point, we must ask the Education Minister and her so-called
"honorable" in government to start the experiment by
first sending their kids to "mother tongue" only
schools and not abroad.
The rest of us can wait for the result.
For now, let us bury the idea.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC,
October 19, 2015.
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