In a one-day reflection workshop held at the University of Burundi this January 07, a researcher said the teaching of many languages at the beginning of primary school is a barrier to Kirundi language development.
Pierre Claver Mukarabe: Kirundi language should be a priority in primary school education
Pierre Claver Mukarabe, researcher and consultant in languages and oral translation says the program of teaching four languages since the first grade has hampered the learning of Kirundi. “Kirundi should be learned in the1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes as well as French and pupils should start learning English and Swahili in the 5th or 6th grade”.
This specialist says prioritizing Kirundi language in primary education is one of the means to promote this language.
He says if we use different languages at the very beginning of primary school education, there will be a psycholinguistic confusion. “It becomes difficult for the children to learn more than three languages at the same time. Therefore, they are misled”.
Mr. Mukarabe says the Ministry of Education should discuss language cohabitation and the way languages should be taught in primary school with linguists. “It would be better to sit together and find an effective way to learn and teach different languages”.
This specialist says Kirundi is threatened to disappear because it is not promoted like other languages. “There is no monolingual dictionary of Kirundi. There is a huge need for financial support to allow researches on Kirundi language and sensitization to its teaching. For example, Kinyarwanda was supported by Bill Gates Foundation and is now on Google”.
He says, however, there is hope as the number of Burundian communication specialists is increasing and they will probably develop the teaching of Kirundi language.
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