VOA Our Voices 216: Lessons in Mother Tongue Education

[NewsReporter]

VOA - World News

“Hello”, “Bonjour”, “Ola” – all greetings in languages used in classrooms across Africa. But how many are actually indigenous to the African continent? This week, #VOAOurVoices examines mother tongue education in African schools. Should children be taught in the language they speak at home? Host, Hayde Adams FitzPatrick is joined by Madina Maishanu of VOA’s Hausa news service, Mwamoyo Hamza, Chief of VOA’s Swahili news service, as well as Jackson Mvunganyi, from VOA’s youth-focused show, Upfront. South African linguist, Somikazi Deyi, from the University of Cape Town also joins the show to talk about how friction over mother tongue education has shaped South Africa’s past and present.