28 May 2026

A survey on the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in public schools has revealed that delivering the curriculum in a language that learners are not familiar with creates an unfriendly learning environment. 

An official of the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Mr Aggrey Makhila said in an interview that the survey, which was conducted across six regions being Kgalagadi, Chobe, Ghanzi, North East, North West and part of Central, had revealed that gaps existed when delivering the curriculum in a language that learners at lower levels of the education system did not speak at home. 

Mr Makhila said to plug the gaps, it had been decided that reception level learners would start their education with their mother tongues serving as the mediums of instruction in order to enhance their level of understanding and lay a foundation for a smoother schooling experience. 

He said in the North East Region, 35 teachers were trained to coordinate the use of languages in 35 schools in the region. One of the objectives is to ensure that no child was left behind in terms of delivery of instructions. 

“In the North East, we concentrated in three languages being IsiNdebele for the villages of Jackalas 1, Butale, Jackalas 2, Senyawe and Siviya as these villages share the border and the language with Zimbabwe,” he said. 

He however, said that for the villages such as Ramokgwebana, Mapoka, Mbalambi and Sekakangwe where the Kalanga language was dominant, it had been adopted as the medium of instruction. 

In Moroka, he said it was established that Zezuru was the most widely spoken language, but because its orthography has not yet been established, Shona had been adopted instead, as the languages bore some similarities. 

“There were some challenges when it came to schools like Masunga Primary as it is multicultural and this made it difficult for Kalanga to be a mode of instruction,” he said. 

Mr Makhila said since the start of the use of mother tongues in schools, it has become apparent that learners were finding it easier to comprehend and grasp what they were being taught.  Regarding the issue of books in those languages, Mr Makhila indicated that books for Reception Class level and for Standard One had been published in Kalanga, IsiNdebele and Shona. 

He however, noted that budgetary constraints halted the project just when publishing for Standard Two was supposed to be undertaken. 

Language policy coordinator and senior teacher at Mulambakwena Primary School Ms Koziba Chuma said the school started the use of mother tongue instruction in 2023, with focus on Reception and Standards One, Two and Three classes. 

Ms Chuma said learners who struggled with the use of Setswana and English as means of instruction as per the syllabus responded well to instructions when they were delivered in their mother tongue. 

“For instance, we identified children who were not able to absorb instructions in Setswana and English well and began to give them instructions in Kalanga and they respond properly,” she said. 

Ms Chuma highlighted that while all subjects were taught in Setswana except for English, it became difficult to teach a learner with no understanding of the two languages, hence the use of mother tongue became handy in such circumstances. ENDS