Bishop Mtumbuka for English learning in Malawi primary schools
Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of the Catholic Diocese of Karonga has called for the abolishment of the use of local languages in classroom environment, saying Malawi schoolchildren should start learning English so early.
Mtumbuka said over the weekend at Chaminade Secondary School where he presided over a farewell ceremony for Form Four students that will leave the institution after their Malawi School Certificate Examinations that began on Monday.
He said children should start learning English from early development of their education, saying the current system is making learners fail to speak or read English.
Malawi’s education policy is that Chichewa should be used in the curriculum for primaries 1 to four.
“Government should know that people in the villages are angry with this system. They also want their children to read or speak English just the same as the children of rich people who go to private schools do. Therefore the system must be changed,” said Mtumbuka.
According to Mtumbuka, speaking or reading in English can help close the gap between the rich and the poor.
Said Mtumbuka: “These top government officials always send their kids to private schools to get better education. They should put good learning environment in public schools for poor Malawians.”
Simply, the younger the learner, the better they are at mimicking new sounds and adopting pronunciation. The brain is open to new sounds and patterns in preadolescence.
The Bishop also asked government to start getting views from people in both rural and urban areas before implementing policies that will affect.
if one does not understand english well,then how can he/she comprehend issues ,ideas/information written in english? nde pagona nkhani pamenepo. Mabuku a zonse,ali muchizungu ndiye munthu mukuti achite master chichewa adzimvensa bwanji zinthu nanga? Ma germans,french,taliana ,machaina etc ,anthu awa kwawo sukulu ili nchilankhulo cha kwao musaiwale!!!!!!!!! Unless tisinthe mabukhu ngati baibulo onse akhale mu vernaculartu basi asaah bishop is right!
Think twice Mr Mtumbuka English is just like any other languages in the world it doesn’t contribute to any development. I will give you an example of Chinese, Dutch, russians etc people they can travel and do business any where hence they don’t know English. These people learn the English language after finishing school nthawi zina timalephera kumvetsesa zinthu mkalasi kamba komphunzilira mchizungu chifukwa amphunzitsi athuso samathatso bwinobwino chizunguchi. I will agree with you if you can put it this way: we should start teaching our kids at early stage about the danger of corruption to our nation. Focus on development English is not one of them.
Mindset/Mondset,
The example you have given of the Chinese does not hold water. The Chinese and people of other developed countries who do not use English have all their systems in their languages. This means that they understand the world in general though they fail to speak English. The problem in Malawi is that all our systems are in English. This is the reason we should all know English! Our Chichewa does not “smell ” anything anywhere in the world.
LG
Think twice Mr Mtumbuka English is just like any other languages in the world it doesn’t cotribute to any development. I will give you an example of Chinese, Dutch, russians etc people they can travel and do business any where hence they don’t know English. These people learn the English language after finishing school nthawi zina timalephera kumvetsesa zinthu mkalasi kamba komphunzilira mchizungu chifukwa amphunzitsi athuso samathatso bwinobwino chizunguchi. I will agree with you if you can put it this way: we should start teaching our kids at early stage about the danger of corruption to our nation. Focus on development English is one of them.
Here we go again! There is no evidence that teaching in an unknown language leads to better education. On the contrary, all evidence shows that using the native language is more successful. People, bishops included, are free to express opinions but they are not necessarily based on worldwide evidence.
The problem is that, we malawians just as african countries & many other countries arround the globe , have been mentally colonised from wayback….to the extent that we can’t figure it out to live as a country without english. Infact one is considered special only when he/
she speak or act in english. It is a long time problem….even the whole system of our government is english….& yet we choose to call ourselves in-dependent yet even the dressing code in our own parliament is white man’s. Some mps even fail to contribute effectively on issues of national importance just because of the english burden . .nde choncho dziko lingatukuke..? It is the same thing with our schools. For example if I happen to fail English & pass the rest of the subjects with distinctions….I have failed the whole exam….just imagine…!! Colonisation can not be any more than that…we are actually doomed ,if I may put it that way.! ¤Why is it that anything that has got some sort of english garnished on it, considered special..¿ ¤Why is it that anything made from a white man’s Idea is somuch valued.¿ ¤Why is it that for example,when one is speaking some typical chichewa from dowa is considered primitive..than that other so called educated guy speaking foreign language(english) ¤When are we going to wake up from our slumbers & start cherishing what’s really for us , not something that actually came with someone. These are just some of the questions that we need to ask ourselves. It is high time we go to school not only to speak english…but to be equiped with skills that can help us when we grow up…to develop our country. Malawi is a cotton producing country..but we can’t even make zingwe za nsapato from that cotton . In conclusion , english as it is ; is just another language for some kind of people somewhere…..just as it is the case with chichewa. There is nothing magical with english for goodness sake. !! Let us not colonise ourselves with it..!! One can leave a beautiful life without the involvement of english. We only need to decolonise our minds people…& begin to see thing from a different angle. # MINDOFME …
My Lord, English is just a language and not a measure of intelligence, wisdom and Umunthu. We need more than English language taught from early childhood..and as an educationist and religious man you know this. The people of Tanzania are more united not because of English, but because of the patriotism of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who saw in Swahili a unification factor and even today the Swahili is on BBC…I remain you staunch follower.
Bravo Bishop Mtumbuka. That’s very true & introduce debate, drama & quiz in English in early stages of learning. It’s the only language that can make you free when you travel across the globe. Chichewa chantchito chani? Chingathandize chani?
All this is meant to kill Chichewa – cultural war on Chewa pipo and culture. Speaking english does not make one wiser. You might have noted that Europeans are pride of their respective languages. Angel Merkel does not speak English, Emmanuel Macron doesnt speak english and so do Putin and Hu Ji Tao. They all know english but they choose to speak their own languages even to english people. We were laughed at in Holland when a prominent dutchman found me and my Malawian friend speaking English. He asked us to be proud of our culture and languages. The Bishop has a colonial hangover
Mr. Harawa – I hope you can appreciate the irony of extolling the virtues of pride in our culture and language –
Commenting in English!
Or official language is still English – in the National Parliament of Malawi!!
We insult the colonialists – sadly we fail to escape their centuries of dominance.
Anyway – the issue of languages is a distraction;
We don’t have textbooks and teachers in schools!!!
TRUE BISHOP
I think the Bishop is mistaken. Actually, he does not
He does not know what he is talking about; speaking, writing and reading in English do not help any country to develop. The move by the government to use the local language as a language of instructions in schools was a right policy. What is now required is to introduce the same policy in secondary schools and up to university and make it the official language, English as a second language. There is no country in the world which is developed due to the use of the foreign language as a language of instructions in schools, not one.
Kids should be exposed to more languages at a young age. Not only English but French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese. Malawi is doing more business with other nationalities than the British. We are living in global village
Zimenezi ndiye zonamatu. Chofunika ndi choti aphunzitsi a English azilimbikira kuphunzitsa bwino English. Anawo azikhala ndi mwayi wolankhula m’kalasi. Kale tinali ndi English oral nthawi yomwe timapatsidwa mwayi ochita pratie kulankhula chizungu. Pali njira zina monga dramma, role play, ma club olimbikitsa chizungu, komanso mipikisano ya chizungu osakhala zimenezi zochita abolish kulankhula vernacular language ku sukulu. Kodi tikamati culture ndimayesa language ili mu culture mo? Mufuna tisanduke azungu? Pepani ndangodutsamo mkutheka mwina ndikulakwa ndikhululukireni a Bishop anga komanso mkutheka mwina ndikukhonza. Ngati zili chonho chonde nane ndimvereni.
Iwe manja ndiwe munthu opusa, opanda nzeru ndipo panya pako. Its only in Malawi where even though English is our official languange, 95% of the population cannot speak the language confidently or fluently ; All because of the stupid policy which the Bishop is condemning. For how long shall this country be backwards and of what benefit is your language/culture so that it should be maintained in schools? Is Chichewa a business language anywhere outside of Malawi? Our country is so retrogressive because of people of your mindset.
This is a great thought! Let us go back to the early days of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The standards he set. I was able to read English and write sentences while in standard 3. If we go back further, you will see that most of the present villagers who studied at MCC present DEC, could write, read and speak good English.
Look at the generation after Multiparty! Look at their compositions in classes, the tenses, etc. A form 4 student who does not know what a subject or predicate is in a sentence, where will they go in this competitive world? I know that others will hate this thought just because the author is from a different corner of this planet. SHAME!!!!
Andree!!!! You are talking. In my case I was able to write a sentence in good English while in Std 4. Writing a composition in Std 6, 7, & 8 later spurned me into writing very good sentence constructions whether simple sentences, compound sentences or complex sentences. Those were the days of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda who did not embarrass Malawi when speaking in English. Even the letters he wrote in English to his uncle Mr. Msokera when he was student at Indiana University comprised of very good sentence constructions befitting a graduate.
In fact Malawi is portrayed as an English speaking country. For that reason donors often refuse to fund researches on local languages. As a consequence, there is nothing wrong using English as a medium of instruction to children at an early age. Besides, children who start going to nursery schools from the age 2 or 3 years are able to master the English language very easily. Often they get excited with the subject as opposed to children in rural areas who ought to be chased away from home in order to attend classes. So long as Malawi is a former British colony which was exposed to the British education system way back in 1875, then it would be an exercise in futility to overhaul English for Chichewa.
Andree, you are also right. The generation after Multiparty era, in some respect, leaves a lot to be desired. Using Chichewa as a medium of instruction is merely using a try and error approach. In 1976, school children in Soweto refused use of Afrikaans in schools as a medium of instruction alongside English. The rejection spread out to all schools in RSA.
true bishop I second