The devastating blow on African culture

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday May 1, 2023 06:00

On many fronts, western education championed its transformative agenda with distinction. In our jurisdiction and indeed elsewhere in the continent, indigenous traditional initiation universities of bogwera and bojale, which were custodians of the African heritage, could not withstand the vicious western onslaught. Many traditional schools were completely swept away and those that survived had their influence diluted.

Conscious of the power of language as a carrier and custodian of culture, western education targeted local languages with the intention of undermining them. And in this regard, western education must be credited for doing its home work well. Today many local languages have literally become endangered species, gasping for air and struggling to survive.

Their future remains bleak and uncertain. English language has established itself not only as a language of instruction in the classroom but also as a popular and widely spoken language in many households. It is not uncommon to meet children struggling to express themselves in Setswana or any other local language while they are very proficient in English.

Quite a number of children in public secondary schools have a negative perception of Setswana language. The negative attitude towards the language is even worse or understood when displayed by a handful of students who began their primary school in an English medium atmosphere. Many children from affluent and middle class family backgrounds do not begin their school life in public schools. It would appear middle class parents do not have complete faith and confidence in public schools.

Not many parents, however, can afford to pay the exorbitant school fees in the private schools all the way to secondary school level. The tendency adopted by many parents is to give their children a head start by way of subjecting them to a solid and rigorous teaching and learning environment at English medium kindergarten and primary schools.

If it were not for limitations placed upon them by resource constraints, many parents would prefer to begin by giving their children a rock solid English medium primary school foundation. But the dream and ideal head start remains a distant possibility as it is frustrated by financial constraints. Only a minority section of the population is able to oscillate between private and public schools.

Once the parents are satisfied that their children got the ‘right foundation’ (usually upon completion of primary schooling) and coupled with the reality that a prolonged stay in private schools would not be sustainable, parents begin to knock on public secondary schools’ doors. While many children with English medium background are able to navigate their future learning endeavours with relative ease, it must be noted, however, that the transition from a private school dispensation to a public school setting can never be a seamless and trouble free undertaking. These are two distinct institutions, the one anchored on European culture while the other is predominantly African in nature.

Therefore a clash of culture is bound to ensue. And many students used to an English atmosphere struggle to adjust and to come to terms with their new environment. One of the challenges public secondary schools are facing is the general student attitudes towards Setswana. Generally, students even those without English medium school background, do not find their own language appealing. There are instances where those transitioning from private schools to government schools seek exemption from doing Setswana. That wish is seldomly granted unless in rare and exceptional cases where a Motswana child raised elsewhere has never learnt Setswana elsewhere.

Otherwise, Setswana remains a compulsory subject for all Batswana children. But the negativity towards Setswana exists across the board. This attitude, if not checked, can impact adversely on student learning outcomes. There are painful examples of high flying students who could have been awarded merits in the final learning outcomes but were let down by low grades in Setswana. It is noted with gratitude that government is fully conscious of the possible extinction of local languages and efforts are being taken to restore the dignity of Setswana and other local languages. The use of traditionally marginalised indigenous languages as a medium of instruction in schools has begun in earnest across the length and breadth of the country. Though it is difficult to repair overnight, the damage done over the years, it is hoped that the new language dispensation would serve to inculcate in Batswana children a love for and pride in their own cultural heritage.

It remains to be seen how the new language policy will influence learning outcomes. But the hope of salvaging our African heritage has finally arrived. The promotion of local languages in schools should be seen to be a panacea to the big challenge of academic underachievement. There is need to tackle directly the elephant in the room and that is raising the rigour of classroom instruction and improving governance and accountability. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that there is the one old African traditional practice which stubbornly resisted western influence. This is corporal punishment (CP). Public schools, though working under the spell of Western influence completely embraced corporal punishment from time immemorial. The use of corporal punishment is the one thing setting public schools from private schools.

This is the one form of punishment which made it particularly difficult for students with a private school background to adjust to life in public schools. In our African tradition, corporal punishment is rooted in the culture of spare the rod, spoil the child. Corporal punishment featured prominently in the African way of child rearing and was considered to be the most potent and effective way of instilling discipline. Public schools for a very long time believed that corporal punishment could positively influence student learning outcomes. Casting eyes back to the past, many of my contemporaries would agree with the observation that schools applied corporal punishment with monotonous regularity and without regulation.

There were even regulations in place enforcement of such rules was almost non-existent. I recall vividly a number of students of my time who left school prematurely because they found the school environment unfriendly and intimidating. It is noted with a sense of relief that regulations and restrictions have since been developed to govern the use of corporal punishment in schools. Schools are now much friendlier than they were in the past. And lately government appears to be rooting for a total ban on the use of corporal punishment. Leaving a vacuum, however, would not augur well for schools. There is need to benchmark with private schools on how they are able to maintain discipline and keep their students focused on learning without resorting to the use of CP.