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Susan Nyaga from Kenya, SIL International Senior Literacy & Education Consultant lead a presentation on the importance of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE). She defined mother tongue as the language through which a child first learns to express himself as well as the language through which a person perceives the world around him. Considering that the child learns best when taught in his mother tongue, more needs to be done to facilitate education through means of the home language whilst in the school environment. Susan stated that MTBMLE is neither a new nor isolated concept, with the topic preoccupying educational conferences for over five years globally. She said that the minority language child is often made to feel ashamed of his mother tongue, the consequences of which include these children denouncing their culture, some to the point of even disowning their family, all in a bid to align themselves with the majority language speakers. The harsh reality is that when society rejects a child’s mother tongue, they are in truth, rejecting the child. Susan then read the poem ‘My Language, My Home.’ She then shared some statistics regarding language around the world. There are approximately 6700 languages around the world. Only 62% of the population has access to education in their mother tongue. Out of 524 countries, African languages are only recognised in only 10. Arabic is recognised in 9 of those countries. 221million school aged children are first language speakers of languages not recognised in the school system. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 3% of the population are educated in their mother tongue. Children who begin learning in their first language are more likely to learn a second language more thoroughly, learn to read quicker and are more likely to participate in the classroom activities.
