Where politicians pay hefty amounts for their kids to learn mother tongue

They pay a huge sum for the classes [Photo: Courtesy]

You can now take your child to study Spanish, French, German, Chinese...or your mother tongue.

A few years ago, Kenyan parents spoke to their kids in vernacular and took them to shags to mingle with their rural cousins.

The kids learnt how to milk cows and feed them too.

However, the collapse of communal ties in traditional African society and rise of individualism has seen the gap between modern kids and the speaking of vernacular widening.

This has prompted parents to enrol their kids in vernacular schools.

Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o once noted that “If you know all the languages of the world and you don’t know your mother tongue, that is enslavement. But if you know your language and add to it all the languages of the world, that is empowerment. The choice for us is between intellectual enslavement and intellectual empowerment.”

Now, many Kenyan parents who fear their kids are suffering “intellectual enslavement” have enrolled them to learn mother tongue.

Sarah Mwaura, the principal of ACK Language and Orientation School told The Nairobian that majority of the “60 per cent of our clients” are parents from upper and middle-class homes who “want their kids to know their first language for identity purposes; to identify with their community, when they visit their relatives in the village who are not conversant with English or Swahili they can still communicate.”

Other clients are politicians whose kids get enrolled since they move with their parents a lot and are curious what they are saying when they speak in vernacular.

Sarah adds that “others want to use it (vernacular) for a political strategy and you will find many will come and say ‘I want to learn a particular language because I want to launch my political career in the future’.”

Others are children born outside the country and don’t want to feel left out upon returning besides using whatever basic terms for use as their coded language when they return abroad. Then there those students who just want to know a different language.

Currently, the school offers Kikuyu, Dholuo, Kalenjin, Luhya and Maasai in written and oral form with prospective students taking a placement test to be placed in a particular class, while others take individual classes or extramural studies for learning in their offices or homes.

  “The most popular language is Kikuyu, Dholuo, Kalenjin, Luhya and Maasai. For Kalenjin and Luhya when the parents specify which dialect they want their kids to learn we make sure they have a teacher specifically for that language. Some parents request Kikuyu for Kiambu and not for Kirinyaga and we make sure we meet their demands,” explains Sarah, adding that charges are Sh600 per hour with a minimum of 60 hours required to learn the basics.

Wangui Kamau, 22, is currently learning Kikuyu and says she enrolled to avoid the strange looks from relatives when they realise she can’t speak Kikuyu.

“I’m also ashamed that I know foreign languages like French and Spanish yet I cannot speak my own language so I told my parents I want to learn how to speak Kikuyu and my mother was surprised. She, however, agreed and I enrolled in the vernacular school.”

Wangui also adds that she didn’t want to lose her identity by not speaking her mother tongue.

“I got tired of translations from my cousins and sister during family ceremonies where the emcee always speaks in Kikuyu,” she says.

Wangui reveals that she didn’t learn Kikuyu when growing up since, “our house help was Kamba so she used to speak to me in Kamba, my parents were Kikuyu and they spoke to me in Kikuyu and other people spoke to me in Swahili and English so I was confused. My parents were told if they wanted me to speak they should choose one language and they choose English,” says Wangui adding that it’s important for parents to teach their children their mother tongue because it carries their culture.

Sarah adds that “contrary to what people think, a lot of kids ask their parent to bring them to vernacular school while others it’s the parents who want them to learn” with locals having higher initiative for vernacular languages. Meanwhile, people from DR Congo, Korea, Pakistan, Italy, South Arabia, Yemen, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Chad enrol for the English language.

“Some are learned and have papers but they do not know English so they cannot work in Kenya while for foreign students who want to join our local universities want to be able to understand lecturers and write their own thesis,” Sarah clarifies, adding that they also offer French, Spanish and German popular with form four leavers before joining university. But since the waiting period for joining campus was shortened “the number has drastically reduced and we don’t get a lot of students as we used to.”  

Other special groups of students include CEOs and directors who can hardly express themselves in Kiswahili “because of the mentality that English has more power. But they need to relate to the mwananchi so they will come to learn.  Some top businessmen also do not know how to speak Swahili or English because they are illiterate, but they need these languages to run their businesses. Further, we get clergy who want to speak fluently in Kiswahili and English to match international standards.”

Those who become proficient earn an internal certificate.