By AUGUSTINE ODUOR
A university lecturer now wants the Government to authorise use of Sheng as an alternative instructional language in urban lower primary schools.
The University of Nairobi lecturer says that parents, teachers and education officials can no longer afford to brand Sheng “a bad language”, as it constitutes about 80 per cent of language used among urban children in their day-to-day communication.
“What we are encouraging is the use of a language that can make children understand what they are being taught. And given the popularity of Sheng among most urban children today, then it would easily make them understand what they are being taught in class, not necessarily to master English and Kiswahili” said Silas Oriaso, a sociolinguist and communications expert.
The suggestion could spark off fresh debate on language use as the Kenya National Examination Council and the Ministry of Education have in the recent past blamed Sheng for the poor performance in English and Kiswahili.
“If children can use Sheng well to identify concepts in a second language and also learn subjects like science, then let us use it because it is highly facilitative,” he said. He said Kenyans must now widen their thinking of local languages to include ethnic and hybrid languages like Sheng.
Dr Oriaso said the use of Sheng can never destroy the use of English because a first language (for example Dholuo or Kikuyu) does not stop people from learning a second language. “In any case, these second languages like Kiswahili, English, have some of their words borrowed to make up the Sheng vocabulary,” he said.
Education PS, Dr Bellio Kipsan’g, said he will soon issue a statement on Sheng use in schools.
Oriaso explained that children in schools are not only taught to master English and Kiswahili. According to him, Sheng could be necessary in mastering other disciplines.
The lecturer was responding to the ongoing debate surrounding the 1976 Gachathi Report of the National Committee on Education Objectives and Policies that recommended the use of a predominant language in a catchment area.
The report recommends use of a language of instruction which is predominant in an area for the first three years of primary education.
“Mother tongue may apply to rural schools whose predominant catchment language can be an ethnic language. But this may not be the case in towns and peri-urban schools,” said Oriaso.
