ES1102

Hoo De Lin

C07

Nowadays, globalisation process brings all countries and nations closer. With the help
of advancement of digital technology and the easier access of Information & Communication
Technology (ICT), people can now gain information easier and enhances business
development and economic growth of a country. However, literacy divide seems to obstruct
the information changing process. Literacy divide is the phenomena where societies tend to
divide when they were unable to communicate due to different speaking languages. To
cope with this problem, Namibia has committed to adopt English as their language of school
instruction, despite being spoken by small minority. Many argues that this does not solve the
illiteracy problem but instead poisoning its children (Kisting, 2012). This essay will
attempt to examine whether denying children education in their first language is a solution to
bridge the literacy divide and suggest solutions to curb this arising divide.
Among 30 languages being spoken in Namibias society, why did Namibia
government chooses English? The main reason is that the government sees it as a break with
the colonial past and a means of unifying the country. (Kisting, 2012). However, this is just
a minor reason for a big decision to make English as the first language in school instruction.
English plays an important role to break the digital divide. ubuku (2010) stated that
English is widely known as the global language for communication, business, science, and
internet. ubuku also remarked that English is such a global language that this is the
statement that which seems so obvious that most people would give it hardly a second
thought. In other words, to be able to break the digital barrier, English plays an inevitably
important role. As most of the information are being recorded and transferred in English, a
good command of English is a must to interpret it. If countries continue to neglect the
importance of English, their community will stay disconnected, causing their development
to stagnate and unable to catch up to the developed countries. Namibia government foreseen

this devastating disadvantage on not being able to master English and therefore, created this
mono-language instructing policy.
Namibia governments idea seems to be the ideal solution. However, they fail to see
the consequences this policy is bringing. As Ndaruhutse (2011) argues, the thought of having
English to unlock opportunities for business, professional training and economic profit is
simply short-sighted. Human acquire language abilities as soon as they are born. In other
words, before starting schools, children have already gained quite a number of years of
language experience in their mother tongue (Zubeida, 2012). Zubeida also asserts that only
minority that starts English at the beginning of their childhood benefits while the majority
loses this advantage. Therefore, Zubeida commented that this door of prosperity has been
only opened but only for a small elite. Furthermore, this highly affects children cognitive
development. Students that are able to learn through their mother language help their
cognitive development and inculcate critical thinking, Zubeida concluded.
To make a minority language a main language of teaching is highly unfeasible.
Clearly, alternative methods must be implemented. Subjects must be instructed in their
mother tongue while the children are young. In order to help children to develop their
cognitive thinking, teaching in their mother tongue is the most effective way. However, one
must not neglect the fact that English is still one of the main language conversed globally. In
addition to teaching in mother tongue, training in English is also compulsory. The slow
introduction of English to the education system serves better than to replace the whole
vernacular system. According to Kisting, almost 70 % of teachers in senior secondary schools
are not able to communicate and write in English and 18 % of them even had simple English
grammar mistakes. The even more shocking fact is that some teachers struggled to fill in
basic biographic information. If teachers have difficulty understanding in English, it is
impossible for students to have good command in English. This will results students not

being able to communicate well in English. On the long run, the younger generation will still
have difficulties to overcome the language barrier and prefers to speak in their own native
language. Government should invest more in training teachers to have better command in
English. This will largely improve the quality of English teaching and the younger
generations will truly benefit from it.
In conclusion, having English as an only language in Namibias education policy is
simply poisoning their childrens minds. This did not solve illiteracy problems, it also have
no effect on bridging the digital divide. Mother tongue as a language of teaching must be
retained and remained as a main language of instruction, while English can be introduced as a
second language to children as a part of learning activities.
(797 words)

References
ubuku, F. (2010). Empowerment or disempowerment: That is the question
(English as an international language) in EIL. International Online Journal of Educational
Sciences, 2(1), 98-109. Retrieved from http://www.iojes.net/userfiles/Article/IOJES_141.pdf

Euromonitor International. (2011, February 11).Global digital divide persists but is narrowing.
Retrieved from http://blog.euromonitor.com/2011/02/global-digital-divide-persists-but-isnarrowing-1.html
Kisting, D. (2012, 10 January). Namibia's language policy is 'poisoning' its children.
The Guardian. Retrieved from The Guardian database at
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/namibia-english-crisis
Ndaruhutse, S. (2011, February 08).Speaking up for the mother tongue. The Guardian.
Retrieved from TheGuardian database at
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/feb/08/tefl-languages
Treisman, L. (2014, January 24). Access to information: Bridging the digital divide in Africa.
The Guardian. Retrieved from The Guardian database. http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment-professionals-network/2014/jan/24/digital-divide-access-to-information-africa
Zubeida, M. (2012, January 10). Pakistan ruined by language myth: Effective teaching of
English is the preserve of an elite, leaving the rest of the country to linguistic confusion and
educational failure. The Guardian. Retrieved from The Guardian database.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/pakistan-languagecrisis?guni=Article:in%20body%20link