Features Overview

Executive summary

This policy brief provides an overview of language policies in education and the impact of policy practices, with a focus on early childhood education, as well as establishing Tusome Africa's language policy in the implementation of our Early Childhood education programs. The language environment in Uganda, like that of the greater East and South African regions, is rich and dynamic, with at least 42 live native languages spoken throughout the country. Overlaid on top of this is English, which was introduced to the country as a colonial language, and Swahili, which has spread from the shores of the Indian Ocean in the East African region.

While English has gained a strong foothold in Ugandan national institutions, its application and use as a language of instruction, particularly in primary school, remains a contentious issue. The Ugandan education policy requires that the mother tongue be used as the language of instruction for the first three years, with English taught as a subject. However, the policy also requires that in the 4th grade English is adopted as the language of instruction dropping the use of mother tongue altogether. The practice in schools is different with teachers gravitating to what they find to be effective in their classes, which depending on region varies. Balancing what parents and teachers consider to be quality education markers and what the ministry of education considers to be quality education is a delicate issue, as language plays a role in this. Policy shifts have occurred from time to time as the government attempts to find solutions that are acceptable to all parties involved in education while remaining pedagogically effective.

This policy brief advocates for the use of both English and mother tongue as the language of instruction for the simple reason that achieving a competitive advantage in the job market, which is currently dominated by English, necessitates strong foundations in language adoption and comprehension. While we agree that using mother tongue in our studies is important for preserving identity, culture, and native languages, there is also need to balance what learners will need to interact and manage work at national institutions that all use English. We also believe that learners need more exposure to a language before it can be used as a teaching language. This is especially true in rural settings and public schools where learners largely use and are exposed to content only in their mother tongue. This potentially affects their ability to gain proficiency sufficient to understand instructions conducted in English.