Grade (7) Private Schools perfom dismally in Ndebele exams

Robin Muchetu
Sunday News Reporter
MOST privately run primary schools in Bulawayo have over the years been performing dismally at Grade 7 examinations, especially in isiNdebele despite the schools being very expensive and expected to produce quality results, with Government and church-run schools coming out tops.
   Fact sheet
* Students fail isiNdebele dismally
* Private schools are very expensive, ——— between $800 and $1 500
* Students punished for speaking vernacular
* Specific days set aside for speaking isiNdebele
A survey carried out by Sunday News, revealed that schools in the eastern suburbs do well in Mathematics, English and Content but fall short in isiNdebele which makes them rank at the bottom.
According to a Grade 7 analysis report for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, the top five schools did well. These are Fairview, a Seventh Day Adventist Church-run school which had a pass rate of 99,6 percent, Ross Camp run by the Zimbabwe Republic Police with 99 percent, SDA Church-run Pelandaba with 94,3 percent, Riverside, a private school, with 93,3 percent and at number five is Roman Catholic Church-run St Thomas Aquinas with 92,4 percent.
The provincial education director for Bulawayo, Mr Dan Moyo, said the poor performance in isiNdebele in private schools could be attributed to the fact that schools in the eastern suburbs were multi-cultural with a majority being Indian, Jewish or White and have limited time to speak isiNdebele.
“Many schools in the eastern suburbs such as Camel and Whitestone are multi-cultural with a majority being Jewish, Indian and White, making English their first language. Ndebele then becomes a second language making it hard for them to learn and understand it effectively,’’ said Mr Moyo.
He said the fact the pupils do not speak isiNdebele when they are at home makes it difficult for them to fully learn and understand the language. The PED said even the African children who are enrolled at the same schools hardly speak the language at home so in turn they also perform dismally at school.
The schools in eastern suburbs are said to be punishing pupils who speak vernacular while they are in the school premises, which makes it virtually impossible for the pupils to grasp the language well. Some schools, however, have introduced a “Ndebele Day” where the pupils will be allowed to speak isiNdebele freely.
The PED condemned this, saying it was rather harsh that schools forbid the use of isiNdebele on other days of the week.
“I have not heard of any schools that are doing that but to say they banned the use of isiNdebele is rather harsh. The language needs to be spoken so that students grasp it better,” he said.
The PED, however, defended the move to learn more of English language as it is an international language that can enable one to communicate effectively with people across the world. He said it was necessary that students learn more of English, as it will be an asset to them while languages such as isiNdebele are spoken by a minority.
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, said there was no government policy which related to the use of vernacular languages at schools as pupils have the right to communicate in their mother tongue while at school.
“There is no set policy on the use of language as such but it must be understood that the Constitution respects the use of one’s mother tongue to communicate effectively,” said Sen Coltart.
He said what must be noted though was that when students are taking particular classes they should use the appropriate language.
“When students are taking a Shona or isiNdebele class they must use those languages. it is allowed and appropriate but when they turn to an English based subject they have to use English to communicate,” he said.
The challenge of minority languages is also rife in other provinces such as Matabeleland North where students have been made to learn languages at a late stage. A good example is that of schools in Hwange which started learning Nambya at Grade Six and are to be examined at Grade 7, yet other languages like isiNdebele and Shona are taught for seven years.
The acting PED for Matabeleland North, Mr Mathias Luphahla, however, said the schools were coping.
“Schools are managing on that end, take for instance Binga where exams were done in Tonga and the students passed well at primary level in 2011 and 2012. Even those in Hwange did well in Nambya when they took examinations,” said Luphahla.
Mr Luphahla said if schools felt they were not prepared for the examinations they were not compelled to register their students, as it is not compulsory.
He said Zimbabwe was liaising with its Zambian counterparts so that they exchange information on languages such as Nambya and Tonga. He also said there is a local publishing house that is printing books in Tonga but it has not started on books in Nambya.
Historian Mr Pathisa Nyathi said the challenge with Africans is that they demonise and abandon anything to do with their culture.
“Africans tend to demonise and abandon anything to do with their culture or heritage such that they fail to perform when the time comes. They actually take pride in their failure to speak their own local languages,” said Mr Nyathi.
He said the challenge was also with parents and guardians who do not encourage children to have interest in their own heritage. He said Africans are not rooted in their own past and think other people are better than them thus they follow foreign cultures.
Mr Nyathi added that parents sent their children to the so-called affluent schools not for education but as a status symbol.
“Parents take pride in sending their children to affluent schools as a sign of prestige and not for quality education, thus they perform dismally not only in isiNdebele but many other subjects,” he lamented.
On the issue of other minority languages he said the education ministry needed to introduce the languages from Early Childhood classes up to Grade 7 so that pupils can be tested effectively.
He said there was still a hangover from the colonial era where students were punished for speaking in vernacular at school