239 tongue by the time they leave school. As many SIL personnel are educators by profession,
they also exhibit an instinctive rejection of any classroom experience that leaves the child more confused than enlightened. The use of local languages in the classroom is seen as
beneficial in that it optimises the learning experience. NACALCO and SIL are allied principally in their support for the local language
committees. Both organisations provide financial support to the language committees, SILs contributions for this purpose being generally channelled through NACALCO. Both
organisations also provide linguistic and pedagogical consultant help, although SILs role in this area has decreased in recent years. Both operate print shops as well, in which materials
prepared by the language committees may be produced.
229
As neither of these institutions has direct involvement in the primary school classroom, their educational goals are represented and broadened by the language
committees input into the local school. However direct evidence of NACALCOs influence may be seen in the PROPELCA teacher training content, and in the skills of language
committee personnel who have benefited from NACALCO-sponsored training. Evidence of SILs input may be seen in the linguistic approach taken to formulation of the alphabets and
the teaching of reading. Both NACALCO and SIL authors feature in the PROPELCA textbooks and training aids.
6.4. Stakeholder interests in English-language and mother-tongue education
Having identified the principal stakeholders in the primary school classrooms of Bafut, Kom and Banso, this study now turns to an examination of how those stakeholders
interests are served by the two language options for education: English and the mother tongue.
230
229
The SIL print shops more sophisticated printing equipment is considered to produce higher quality materials but at a somewhat higher cost than the NACALCO-related print shop. More local printing options are also
sometimes used by the language committees.
230
As has been mentioned, neither Pidgin nor French are considered here. Pidgin, although commonly used between people in the Northwest Province who speak different mother tongues, is not considered a permissible
language for school. Rather, a more standard English dialect called Grammar is used. French, though its presence in the national curriculum is increasing, is spoken by very few people in the Bafut, Kom or Nso
homelands and so its presence in these primary schools is quite limited.
240 6.4.1. Whose interests are served by the norm?
Despite the growth in participation in PROPELCA programmes, English remains the default language of education in Bafut, Kom and Banso.
231
The norm of English-only education works particularly to the advantage of certain stakeholders, whether present in the
classroom or not. Most obviously, the English-only classroom advantages those children who, upon
arriving to grade one, already speak at least some English section 6.1.3. A pre-school child in the Bafut, Kom or Nso homeland has two possible means of learning English: from
English-speaking parents, andor at an English-language nursery school. In the first case, parents who teach English to their children at home tend to be those who are not only English
speakers but are also particularly interested in their childs upward mobility and success at school. In the second case, children who attend the two-year nursery school come from
homes with financial means. Nursery school is currently optional in the school system, with individual nursery schools run by either government or denominational schools. However its
tuition is typically higher than that for the lower primary grades see Figure 6.2. Thus, the child most advantaged by the exclusive use of English in the classroom is
likely to have parents who prioritise school success, speak and value English, and possess discretionary income.
232
Aside from the advantage of two years of exposure to English, the child who has been to nursery school has other advantages in the grade 1 classroom: he or she knows how to act
in a classroom, is familiar with the props of formal education the blackboard, slates, chalk, desks, exercise books and so on, and so spends much less time becoming acclimatised to the
classroom culture. Evidence in this study showed this familiarity with classroom culture to be no small advantage to the grade 1 child section 6.1.3.
The English-only classroom also works to the advantage of the teacher, in one sense; it establishes without question his or her knowledge capital, prestige and authority. It has
already been mentioned that English is used by the teacher to discipline and berate the students. Not only so, but the teachers competence and knowledge of the material goes
231
NACALCO 2001 lists 11,338 PROPELCA students currently in the entire Northwest Province. Meanwhile, the population of primary school-aged children in the province in 1991 was estimated at 246,485 by Amin
1999:92 and can only have increased since that time. Thus, the PROPELCA programme of mother tongue education is reaching less than 5 of the students in Northwest Province.
232
Fishman, in his study of post-imperial English, 1996:624 claims that early access to English is . . . related to and supportive of hierarchical social stratification. This claim has interesting sociopolitical implications for
the English-language nursery schools of the Northwest Province, whose clientele are the children of the elite.
241 unquestioned when students are not themselves competent in the language in which that
knowledge is mediated. The students in English-only classrooms of all grades were observed to be quieter, less interactive, and more tentative in their interactions than the students in
classrooms in which the mother tongue was being used by the teacher. Of course, the use of only English in class is even more in the interests of the teacher
who does not speak the community language. Permitting use of the mother tongue by the students would reveal the teachers own areas of ignorance, possibly damaging his or her
authority in the eyes of the student. Finally, the English-only classroom works in the interests of the elite who live outside
the homeland. As discussed in sections 2.3.5 and 4.5, the elevated status of the elite in the eyes of the language community is due partly to their successful negotiation of English-
language education. Any educational alternatives that ease the learning process for others in the language community or lessen disparities in academic performance could challenge the
prestige which the elite have gained by succeeding in school. 6.4.2. Whose interests are NOT served by the norm?
The most obvious loss incurred by means of the English-only classroom is that of the monolingual child. Patterns for poor learning must be set early in these classrooms. Basic
skills are acquired superficially in a language that is not understood, and children learn not to expect to understand what is going on in the learning environment. Content learning is
deferred for years, as the children must focus on learning English before they can understand what is being taught. As a result, in what Komarek 2004:60 terms the war for education for
all or only for an elite, the non-English speaking child loses his or her right to education for all.
Another group whose interests are not served by the English-only classroom are the parents of monolingual children. Whether or not they themselves speak English, their
investment in the childs education often yields a meagre return. A third group whose interests are not served are those families that do not send their children to nursery school.
They may not do so because there is no such school close to their home, or because they do not have the necessary disposable income, or even because they do not recognise the
significant advantage that nursery school attendance gives to the primary student.
242 6.4.3. Reflection: interests and outcomes of the norm
In considering the societal groups in Bafut, Kom and Banso whose interests are and are not being served by the educational status quo, it is important to note that school norms
reflect and reproduce the class, gender and ethnic relationships of the society Giroux 2001:63. The network of power relations within and around the local community
encompasses and dominates the local school also. It is therefore not surprising that those who benefit most from the current English-only school system are precisely those with power in
the community: the wealthy, the English speakers, the teachers, and the elite. It is also not surprising that the current system is so well entrenched in the community.
However, according to this study the dominance of the English-only classroom has had at least two consequences for community expectations of primary education, as described
in sections 6.1.2 and 6.1.4. First, the lack of attainability of academic achievement has caused parents to see the utility of schooling as much in terms of its capacity to teach character,
conduct and general life skills, as for the academic knowledge gained - or not gained - by their children. Second, the belief has become widespread that primary education is enough
education, in the face of the failure of primary schools to consistently prepare children to succeed in higher education and secure subsequent waged employment outside the
community. These fundamental attitudes about primary education are shaping educational outcomes in the Bafut, Kom and Nso homelands.
6.4.4. Whose interests are served by mother-tongue education? In clear contrast to English-only education, education in the mother tongue serves the
educational interests of monolingual children and their parents. The data indicate that the great majority of children entering school in the homeland are monolingual, and so this
interest group is quite significant. Where the parents are themselves monolingual, mother- tongue use in school allows them to participate in the childs education. If the parents are not
themselves monolingual, mother-tongue education still provides the means to maximise the cognitive development of their monolingual children, and allows them to become proficient
in knowledge and skills of value to the parents e.g. literacy, numeracy, reasoning abilities and so on.
Mother-tongue education also serves the interests of a certain segment of the teaching staff in the Bafut, Kom and Nso homelands, who believe that its enhancing effects on
learning in the classroom make it a desirable teaching method. Many of the PROPELCA teachers describe their motivations for mother-tongue teaching in this way.
243 Using the mother tongue for learning is also in the interests of the community primary
school due to its role in better examination performances section 6.1.1. Mother-tongue learning also works to the advantage of classroom teachers who are concerned to improve the
effectiveness of classroom learning. In the language community itself, mother-tongue education can support the viability
of traditional leadership. It is to the advantage to the community insofar as it undergirds the cohesion of the community, minimises alienation between parents and children and provides
a bridge between the community and the school. For local churches which prioritise the use of written materials such as Scriptures, catechisms and hymnbooks in the local language,
mother-tongue education produces readers for those materials. Given the emphasis on promotion of local languages in the new Law on Education of
1998, mother-tongue education is evidently now in the interests of national and local government authorities concerned to apply this law. And finally, mother-tongue education
serves the interests of the language committee, of NACALCO and of SIL, all of whom want to see the written mother tongue used as widely as possible.
6.4.5. Whose interests are NOT served by mother-tongue education? Clearly, use of the mother tongue for classroom learning is not in the interests of those
who have so far benefited from the discrepancy between English-speaking and non-English- speaking students in the community primary schools. Children who gain an advantage from
operating in an English environment stand to lose that advantage in a mother-tongue learning environment.
Teachers in the mother-tongue learning environment do risk loss of the authority that attends their superior English ability. On the other hand, it is not likely that the prestige
generally accorded to teachers in the homelands would be deeply affected by increased use of the mother tongue, particularly if the teachers themselves are seen to be fluent in written and
oral mother tongue as well as English. Non-speakers of the local language would of course be at a serious disadvantage in such an environment. On a more practical level, teachers in the
PROPELCA mother-tongue programme are required to take extra training and receive no additional salary for their efforts. It could thus be argued that mother-tongue education is not
entirely in the interests of the primary teacher.
244 6.4.6. Reflection: interests and outcomes of mother-tongue learning
Considering those whose interests are served by mother-tongue learning, this education option works most obviously to the advantage of the relatively less powerful
members of the language communities: the monolingual children and their possibly monolingual parents. Teachers who favour mother-tongue education risk diminishment of
the prestige accorded to them in the English-only learning environment, and do so because they perceive other gains to be had with mother-tongue education. The power dynamics that
characterise such beneficiaries as these would not seem to predict the current acceptance of the PROPELCA mother-tongue education programme.
However, a few of the groups which benefit from mother-tongue education are significantly more influential. The traditional leadership stands to gain from increased use of
the written mother tongue, as discussed above, and this group provides a significant base of support for PROPELCA. If not for the long-term engagement of language committees with
traditional leaders, it would be hard to imagine anything close to the current acceptance of the programme. In addition, the Ministry of National Education has now stated that mother-
tongue education is in the best interests of the nation sections 3.1.5.2 and 3.2.3. Given the support of these two centres of local community power - the Fons and the local government
education authorities - for mother-tongue education, the optimism encountered among language committee members regarding its future is understandable.
Still, even given this array of people and institutions that stand to gain somehow from mother-tongue education, the question remains: does mother-tongue learning seem likely to
affect the overall school success of students in the homelands? A significant body of anecdotal evidence exists in the homelands that the PROPELCA programme does result in
better scores on year-end and national standardised examinations section 6.1.1. However, increased success at primary school still does not necessarily make attendance at secondary
school more likely. As was clear in the study, the principal constraints to attending secondary school are as much financial as academic. Until post-primary education becomes more
accessible, it is doubtful that changes in language-related pedagogy at the primary level will have much effect on secondary school enrolments. As for increased success in secondary
school, once entered, it is certainly possible that the same grounding in reading and thinking skills which make for improved learning in primary school will have a similar effect on any
post-primary learning. However the current study provides no empirical insights into that possibility.
245 A related question has to do with whether greater primary school success will cause
more young people to leave home and join the elite in the urban centres. Will the health and cohesion of the language community be strengthened or weakened by its childrens improved
achievement in the formal education system? Judging from the data gathered in this study Appendices 1-3, PROPELCA alumni who join the elite class continue to support the
customs of the homeland - including use of the language. Support from such an elite with financial and social resources could be of great benefit to the community. If, on the other
hand, successful primary school students do remain in - or return to - the homeland, then the community will gain adult members who both respect their own culture and are able to deal
with the technological and social processes of the wider world. In either case, concerns about the negative impact of greater school success on the language community seem unfounded in
the case of the Bafut, Kom and Nso communities.
6.5. Concluding thoughts on stakeholders, choice and local language maintenance
