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By Nakaibale Lynda Eunice

Education in general plays a critical role in building confidence, addressing persistent crises such as conflict, war, poverty, climate change, gender inequality, learning poverty among others with multilingual education being a key component in achieving this. Uganda has made progress in promoting and teaching multilingual education, especially in pre-primary and lower primary education, including in rural areas. However, there is a need to further support first language-based teaching, particularly in urban areas.

“I support multilingual education because it makes it easier for a student or pupil to understand what he/ she is studying, including learning how to live and associate with others in harmony.”

Born in Uganda in the Kamuli district, Babirye Mary, now aged 28, used to be excited about going to school thanks to the stories and adventures her older siblings shared with her everyday after classes ended.. Mary started school at five years old in a nursery school located a few miles away from her  neighborhood, which she says shaped the person she is today. “Our nursery school teachers loved and cared for us and ensured we learned to read and write early which skills have been key for me to date.’ On being asked about her understanding of Multilingual education, Mary says that it“ refers to the education where children are taught first in the local language such as Lusoga and then mixed with other languages like English and Kiswahili.”

 In describing the link between multilingual education and peace-building and strengthening mutual understanding, Mary explains how multilingual education facilitates comprehension and communication between  people, enhances interpersonal relationships, and, consequently, strengthens inter-community bonds and  understanding among people. Additionally, multilingual education teaches empathy and plays a central role in problem solving, making it easier for people to cooperate in identifying, understanding and addressing problems in a language they understand, which could have otherwise resulted in conflict.

According to the Uganda National Examinations Board 2012, Uganda’s education system was undergoing implementation of the 2007 curriculum reform, mandating the use of local languages in the first three years of primary education, with English being the language of instruction from the fourth year of primary education. Some significant achievements have been registered in this regard. However,  even with these positive strides, not all schools are teaching multilingual education efficiently.  Mary shares her own learning experience: “When I transitioned from nursery to lower primary in one of the schools in Kamuli district,  I struggled to understand what my teachers were teaching because I was being taught in only English unlike in pre-primary where I was taught in both Lusoga and English. This had a negative effect on my grades.”

Looking ahead, Mary recommended the Government of Uganda to: 

• train and build capacities of teachers in teaching multilingual education in teacher training institutions;
• provide localized literacy materials such as story books and  plays written in the area’s first language such as Lusoga, Luganda and Lugisu among others to encourage comprehension among students;
• recruit teachers in regions and areas where they can ably speak the local/ first language as a tool to strengthen multilingual education;
• strengthen accountability and monitoring of the implementation of multilingual education nationally in pre-primary and lower primary education.