Democracy and the eductation system of Botswana: Towards linguistic pluralism

Abstract

The importance of languages in education and in the other important sectors of human
interaction and development does not seem to have been an issue in the definition and
practice of democracy in Botswana. Although the country claims to be democratic and hosts
over twenty five ethnic languages, it does not see the need to accord them official
recognition, let alone introduce them in education even as evidence of giving its citizenry
democratic (human) rights. Only English (the official language) and Setswana (the national
language) are used in education and government business. In the education sector, these
two languages are and have been used as the sole languages of school even in areas
predominant with learners from non-Setswana or English speaking communities. Apart
from disadvantaging learners educationally and creating problems related to cognitive
development, this denies learners whose languages are unacceptable certain human rights.
For these, the ideals of democracy appear rather lofty and superficial at best or irrelevant at
worst. This paper examines this question of languages of education and how the ideals of
democracy are made ineffective when it comes to educational provisions.

Keywords: education, democracy, linguistic pluralism, nation building,
curriculum, teacher training, mother tongue

MARANG: Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 17 2007: pp. 43-52