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R E S E A R C H Open Access
Mother tongue education in primary teacher
education in Kenya: a language management
critique of the quota system
Munene Mwaniki
Correspondence:
mwanikimm@ufs.ac.za
University of the Free State,
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Abstract
Mother tongue education (MTE) has been a subject of rigorous debate for more
than half a century, in both industrialised and developing societies. Despite disparate
views on MTE, there is an uneasy consensus on its importance in educational
systems, especially in the foundational years. Using the Language Management
Framework, the article provides a critical appraisal of MTE discourses in relation to
primary teacher education and the quota system of student teacher selection and
teacher deployment in Kenya. The article argues that from a language management
perspective, these two mechanisms are critical in sustaining and promoting MTE in
Kenya, and possibly elsewhere.
Introduction
Despite many studies that show that it makes good sense to begin a child’s education
in his or her own language, the age-old tradition of teaching a child in a language other
than the first language or teaching in a child’s first language only in the lower classes
of primary school still persists in many African countries. This practice has led to poor
scholastic attainment, often manifested in high repeat or failure rate, poor performance
in examinations, and maladjustment to the world of work. Marginalisation of African
languages is an inevitable outcome since they are not used for meaningful education.
A look at other parts of the world shows that what goes on in Africa in terms of
language of education is an aberration. Even small countries in Europe use their
languages as languages of instruction, even if the children have to learn another
language such as English or French. This is not just a matter of national pride; it is a
sound educational principle to proceed from the familiar to the new. This is precisely
what linguists and educationists have been advocating for Africa. The fears of a multi-
plicity of languages and the uneconomic cost of teaching in several languages, which
are often invoked to counter the feasibility of education in indigenous languages, have
been shown to be pseudo problems, as strategies can be, and have been, devised for se-
lection and development of languages as well as for production of teaching materials
at relatively reasonable cost (Bamgbose 2009, p. 13).
The above quotation easily sums up Mother Tongue Education (hereafter, MTE)
quandary in many an African state. The article interrogates this quandary in Kenya
© 2014 Mwaniki; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly credited.
Mwaniki Multilingual Education 2014, 4:11
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from a language management perspective. From this perspective, primary teacher edu-
cation and the quota system are identified as approaches and/or frameworks that can
be harnessed to address the MTE quandary in Kenya, and possibly elsewhere.
The discussion is presented in five parts. The first part presents the theory and prac-
tice of language management and an overview of the debates and controversies atten-
dant to quotas in education in Africa. The second part presents a general overview of
the discourse on MTE and culminates in a synopsis of MTE in Kenya. The third part
discusses primary teacher education in Kenya as well as the quota system in Kenya’s
education. Part four interrogates the positive role that is played by primary teacher edu-
cation and the quota system in MTE in Kenya. The final part highlights policy and
pragmatic lessons that can be drawn from the positive role of quality primary teacher
education and the quota system in MTE in Kenya.
Language management: exploratory discussion of theory and practice
Language management theory and practice have long been developing. A key figure in
the epistemology of language management theory and practice is J. V. Neustupny, who
has written extensively on the subjects since the 1960s (cf. Neustupny 1968; 1978;
1983; 1984; 1985; 1989a; 1989b; 1993; 1995; 1999). Other contributions to this theory
and practice include Mwaniki (2004) and Spolsky (2009).
According to Neustupny and Nekvapil (2003), language management theory origi-
nates in the “language correction”theory developed in the 1970s and 1980s mainly by
Neustupny and Jernudd, and it grew as an extension and adjustment of language plan-
ning theory. In this theory, the word management refers to a wide range of acts of
attention to “language problems”. In the language planning theory of the 1960s, 1970s
and 1980s “language problems”were problems of language in the narrow sense of the
word. “Current language management theory aims to incorporate not only the whole of
language, defined in the traditional narrow sense, but a wide range of additional prob-
lems implicating discourse and communication in intercultural contact situations”
(Neustupny and Nekvapil 2003, p. 185. Further, Neustupny and Nekvapil (2003) dis-
tinguish between simple and organised management of language. Language manage-
ment theory maintains that, in principle, language problems originate in simple
management and from there they are transferred to organised management. Finally,
“the results of organised management are again transferred to discourse: without cor-
recting individual discourse, the whole management process would make little sense”
(Neustupny and Nekvapil 2003), p. 185.
The second prominent feature of language management theory, according to (Neustupny
and Nekvapil 2003), pp. 185 –186, is its processuality (Neustupny and Nekvapil 2003),
p. 185. Both simple and organised management are seen as developing in a number of
stages. They commence with the deviation from the norm, with different participants often
possessing different norms or ‘expectations’. Following the deviation stage, the deviation
may be noted: a noted deviation may be evaluated, and subsequently an adjustment plan
selected. In the last stage, the plan may be implemented. The third feature of language
management theory is the establishment of a hierarchy between language (in the narrow
sense), communication and socioeconomic management. “Language management alone
makes little sense. A fourth feature is the insistence on the recognition of the multiplicity
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of interests within a community. Language management is not a valueless, objective
‘scientific’process”(Neustupny and Nekvapil 2003), p. 186.
Mwaniki (2004) identifies four aspects of such a framework, namely: the theory; the
method; the discipline; and the practice. Language management theory is a complex of
theoretical precepts deriving from decision-making theory, sociological and linguistic
theories, modernisation theory, systems theory, critical theory, management theory,
phenomenology and human development theory, all seeking to understand and explain
the interactive dynamics of language in society and language and society. Language
management theory, especially in multilingual societies, aims at formulating approaches
that can be deployed to address language-related challenges.
Language management method is both a complex of methods and a particular way of
doing linguistic and social science. As a discipline, language management is an orga-
nized body of knowledge that preoccupies itself with questions relating to the theoret-
ical adequacy of language policy and planning theory and method; and how these
impact on language policy and planning implementation, especially in multilingual set-
tings. As a practice, language management is a critical and creative deployment of strat-
egies designed to address language-related challenges and harness language resources,
especially in multilingual settings. As such, its ultimate goal is the enlargement of peo-
ple’s choices, whether at the macro levels of governance, development and democracy
or at the micro levels of individual freedom and advancement, and service access
broadly defined.
Another contribution to language management theory and practice is Spolsky (2009).
In this contribution that takes a processual approach that conceptualises language
management theory and practice as a logical development from language policy and
planning theory and practice, Spolsky (2009) submits that language policy is all about
choices and the goal of a theory of language policy is to account for the choices made
by individual speakers on the basis of rule-governed patterns recognised by the speech
community (or communities) of which they are members. “Some of these choices
are the result of management, reflecting conscious and explicit efforts by language
managers to control the choices”(Spolsky 2009), p. 1. Further, language management
requires a detailed understanding of multilingualism and social structure, as well as of
multidimensional social and demographic space (Spolsky 2009), p. 260.
Within the context of the current discussion, mother tongue education is understood
to encompass the use of mother tongues for the education of children in formal
institutions, i.e. schools. This view does not imply that the crucial role of non-formal
institutions like the home and neighbourhood in mother tongue education is not ac-
knowledged. Rather, the view is deliberate because of the variables under consideration
in this discussion –quality teacher education and the quota system; and how these two
variables impact on MTE. Admittedly, quality teacher education and the quota system
intersect with MTE within formal institutions, i.e. schools.
Quotas in education in Africa: debates and controversies
The debate on quotas, defined as differential access policies (Gould 1974), in African
education has been alive and well for as long as formal education has been around on
the continent. Considering for a fact that in many parts of Africa formal education is,
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in the words of Foster (1980), p. 201 perhaps the most important contemporary me-
chanism of stratification and redistribution and does not just simply reflect extant pat-
terns of social and economic differentiation, but rather powerful independent forces in
the creation of new and emergent groupings based on the variable possession of power,
wealth, and prestige; these policies have also been accompanied by a fair share of con-
troversies. As a way of introducing the discussion on quotas later in the article, some of
the debates and controversies around quotas in education in Africa as found in the
literature are sampled in this section. The discussion ends with a mention of how the
quota system works in practice in Kenyan education.
In one of the earliest studies to ever explore the issue of quotas in African education,
Clignet (1970), p. 431 –432 documents that in pre-independence Africa, many territor-
ies tried to obtain an ethnically even distribution of school populations by introducing
a system of ethnic quotas or by placing new schools in regions predominantly occupied
by underprivileged peoples. As such, from the inception of formal education systems in
Africa, the debate on quotas and concomitant policies have largely been framed in pol-
itical terms. With regard to this, and with a specific reference to Eastern Africa, Gould
(ibid, p. 374) notes that ‘opportunity to attend schools varies considerably from one
area of each country to another and from one ethic and social group to another. A cen-
tral political issue has, therefore, been concerned with promoting geographical and so-
cial equality of opportunity by reducing considerable regional and social disparities in
access to education which exist where education is not universal’. Immediately after in-
dependence, such policies were seen as important in mediating the tensions between
different races and ethnic groups. This remains true deep into the second half century
of political independence in much of Africa. In other instances, a system of regional
quotas is seen as having ‘the effect of reducing rural/urban imbalance in admissions
and creating greater opportunities for socially disadvantaged students (Gould, ibid,
p. 386). However, to critics, quotas have been seen as ‘discriminating against merit and
substituting institutionalised ethnicity and regionalism’(Gould, ibid, p. 375).
Writing on trends and new priorities in economics of education in developing coun-
tries Blaug (1979) identifies geographical and social quotas as a basis for educational se-
lection and ultimately as determinants for access to education. From this perspective,
quotas are associated with educational reform that seeks to set new priorities as African
countries deal with successive social and economic challenges in a fast evolving global
milieu. The classification of quotas into geographical (spatial) and social is also shared
by Foster (ibid). However, Foster (ibid, p. 206 –207) cautions that quotas may not be
the panacea of addressing all access complexities in African education by observing that
‘research indicates that inequalities in the spatial distribution of education which are, in
large measure, a function of variable levels of local demand, do not occur in a random
or unpredictable fashion: they are systematically linked to other aspects of change; they
are extremely long-lasting, and not easily susceptible to major transformation; and in
practice, disparities tend to widen rather than diminish at intermediate levels of devel-
opment’. As such, ‘the use of ethnic and socio-economic quotas is one solution, but
often such measures turn out to be just as inequitable as those that they intended to re-
move’(Foster 1980), p. 236.
Other research such as Dovlo (2004) conceptualise quotas as a coping strategy in
educating and training of professionals especially in societies that have a history of
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systemic exclusion of certain sections of society from certain professions such as health
care education. In such cases, quotas are used because ‘pure academic merit has been
faulted for producing elitist professionals because candidates coming from deprived
communities with poor educational infrastructures are simply unable to compete with
candidates from elite urban schools’(Dovlo 2004), p. 13. Echoing earlier research such
as the one already cited, and with specific reference to Nigeria, Ukiwo (2007) argues
that quotas in education are a means of ameliorating regional, ethnic and religious in-
equities which when unattended have a debilitating effect on the national project. From
this perspective, quotas are an important mechanism in spreading access to education
as well as serving strategic national development aspirations such as national integra-
tion and cohesion. However, Ukiwo (2007) is also alive to the controversies attendant
to quotas in education in Africa including: engendering disunity and polarisation of the
country; the questionable redistributive potential of quotas; and the promotion of me-
diocrity because oftentimes merit is sacrificed at the altar of political imperatives. These
broad contours of the debates and controversies around quotas in education in Africa
find further corroboration in Tanye (2008) and Morley et al. (2009).
Within the Kenyan education system quotas have been an enduring policy nexus
especially in secondary and post-secondary education levels. At the secondary school
level, as Yakaboski and Nolan (2011) correctly document, government schools are
divided into three categories arranged in a hierarchy with a quota system in place for
admission. At the top are the national schools that consist of a tiny minority of presti-
gious public funded schools, found mostly in Kenya’s larger cities. Then there are pro-
vincial schools in the middle, and finally the largest and lowest ranking group are the
district schools. Under the national school quota system, there must be equal numbers
of students from each district in an attempt to address equal access for regional and tri-
bal admissions. Under the current quota system, which has been in place since the
1980s, the provincial schools must admit 85 percent of their students from their
localities. Then, district schools absorb the students who do not perform well to join
national and provincial schools. Quoting Siringi (2011), Yakaboski and Nolan (2011),
p. 5 document that a consequence of this quota system is that it discourages parents
from enrolling their children in private primary schools, which have a higher educa-
tional quality, but the top national secondary schools can only admit 25 percent from
private schools. The quota system extends to primary teacher training colleges. How-
ever, the controversies attendant to quotas in Africa’s education are also manifest in
debates on quotas in Kenyan education system with Opiyo (2010) cited in Yakaboski
and Nolan (2011), p. 5 opining that the system perpetuates tribal and ethnic segrega-
tion rather than promoting diversity. These controversies notwithstanding, the current
discussion holds the informed view that the quota system, especially as applied in pri-
mary teacher education especially with regard to student teacher selection and teacher
deployment, is critical in sustaining and promoting MTE in Kenya. The discussion
returns to this argument toward the end of the article.
Mother tongue education: an overview of a discourse through time
The UNESCO meeting of specialists on the use of vernacular languages in education in
1951 (UNESCO 1951), whose report was published in 1953, is easily and understandably
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cited as an incipient point in the discourse on MTE. Since then, a lot of research has been
done on MTE and literature on the subject abounds. Reviews of this literature can be
found in a sizeable percentage of works that tackle the subject of MTE. It is not the
purpose of the current overview to replicate these reviews. Rather, this overview seeks to
outline the dominant themes in the discourse on MTE. In doing so, the following discus-
sion attempts to propose a taxonomy that captures the width and breadth of the discourse
on MTE as embedded in the literature. The discussion adopts the critical, post-
structuralist view of discourse as ‘ways of understanding and constructing the social
world’(Martin-Jones and De Mejia 2008), p. xiii. For the purposes of this discussion, the
dominant discourses in MTE can be identified as the historiographical/comparative dis-
course; the pedagogics/didactics discourse; the policy discourse; the human rights/social
justice discourse; and the development discourse. These discourses are briefly elaborated
in the following discussion.
Historiographical/comparative discourse
One of the dominant discourses in MTE is what can be characterised as the historio-
graphical/comparative discourse. From the perspective of historiographical discourse,
MTE carries the burden of history and is cognisant of this. The historiographical dis-
course seeks to locate MTE within historical space. In doing so, it depicts MTE as
always being alive to the historical circumstances in which it has evolved; and as being
a contributor to the historical circumstances in different polities. This discourse under-
lines the linking of MTE with state formation, where the entrenchment of MTE in a
country’s education system is conceptualised as one of the key mechanisms of consoli-
dating the nation state. This view has been especially dominant in the Western concep-
tualisation of the inextricable relationships between language and the nation state and
the role of education in socialisation, usually within a ‘unilingual’state. The emergence
of multiculturalism has tended to challenge this perspective, but not to replace it. In
the West, multiculturalism is strongly associated with a growing realisation of the unin-
tended social and cultural consequences of large-scale immigration. It is a term asso-
ciated in principle with the values of equality, tolerance, and inclusiveness toward
migrants of ethnically different backgrounds. From this perspective, multiculturalism is
a social doctrine that distinguishes itself as a positive alternative for policies of assimila-
tion, connoting recognition of the citizenship rights and cultural identities of ethnic mi-
nority groups and, more generally, an affirmation of the value of cultural diversity
(Kymlycka 1995). It is noteworthy that multiculturalism is a defining feature in the
former colonised world. In this part of the world, multiculturalism is a way of life and
not an unintended social and cultural consequence of large-scale immigration. The his-
toriographical discourse on MTE in the former colonised world takes cognisance of the
disruptive nature of colonialism and colonial languages to the education systems of
former colonial polities –with polities defined as autonomous nation-states with spe-
cific and entrenched forms of government. It uses the disruptive logic of colonialism
and colonial languages as a basis to argue for the recognition and promotion of indi-
genous languages in education in these polities. In advancing the case for MTE in these
former colonial polities, the historiographical discourse traces the historical circum-
stances attendant to the creation of different nation states and the impact of these
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historical circumstances on MTE; while acknowledging the pervasive multiculturalism
and accompanying multilingualism in these polities and the primacy of diversity in cre-
ating viable nation states.
Closely related to the historiographical discourse in MTE is the comparative dis-
course. This discourse seeks to compare MTE regimes in different polities; and in the
process identifies the challenges attendant to actualising MTE as well as identifying
success stories. In this comparative endeavour, this discourse is alive to the dialectics of
history and MTE in different polities. This discourse is anchored on a need to identify
and consolidate an inventory of what works and what does not work in MTE, while
remaining cognisant of the peculiar circumstances in different polities. This discourse
seeks to use both what works and what does not work for MTE as signposts for the
actualisation of MTE across polities.
Pedagogics/didactics discourse
The pedagogic-didactic discourse underlines much of MTE philosophising. In more
general terms, the study of education is called pedagogics. However, specifically,
pedagogics entails “a study of the phenomena of pedagogy, where pedagogy means
theeducationofachildbyaresponsibleadultperson”(Harmse 1982), p. 13. As a
part-discipline of pedagogics, “didactics is scientific reflection centring on educative
teaching-learning acts in the school and the related aspects such as didactic princi-
ples (teaching principles), teaching and learning materials (knowledge) development
and teaching methods”(Duminy and Sohnge 1982), p. 22. Among general didactic
principles, which include totality, individualisation, interest and motivation, percep-
tion, environmental teaching, and selection, mother-tongue teaching features pro-
minently. For children, language provides thepowertostart,inamuchmoreefficient
and differentiated way, a dialogue with their world, and also with the people in their
world. Through mother tongue, a child gains a whole cultural heritage, which will, to
a large extent, determine his further thinking, feelings, desires and attitudes.
The pedagogic-didactic discourse argues for the primacy of mother tongue in tea-
ching and learning. However, the link between the role of mother tongue in teaching
and learning is not a simple and straightforward one. At the beginning of a school
career, a child still has a relatively limited knowledge of mother tongue. A child may
know enough of the language for his/her own needs at that stage, but ahead lies a
great deal of hard work –not only in his/her mother tongue, but also on his mother
tongue as a subject. It is only through purposeful and systematic teaching that the
linguistic efficiency and skill brought from home can be heightened and extended.
The logic of the primacy of mother tongue in teaching and learning is premised on
the understanding that mother tongue is the most effective vehicle or carrier of all
other things that the child is expected to learn from school. Further, mother tongue is
also the basis upon which all other learning is anchored. As Duminy and Sohnge
(1982), p. 57 observe:
When language formation is not up to standard, one cannot expect much from the
teaching-learning setting. First, the necessary foundation of language formation must
be present, and this foundation can never be better laid than within the sphere of the
mother tongue. Training in the mother tongue enables the socio-emotional life of the
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child to unfold smoothly, and at the same time helps the child towards independent
and logical thinking.
Policy discourse
Policy, especially public policy, underlies much of the research and writing around
MTE. Public policy is defined as “a long series of more or less related choices, including
decisions not to act, made by governmental bodies and officials”(Dunn 1981, p. 46).
According to Van Der Waldt (2002), pp. 87 –88:
Policy is larger than a decision. A policy usually involves a series of more specific
decisions, sometimes in a rational sequence. Even when the sequence is more erratic, a
policy is typically generated by interactions among many, more or less consciously
related, decisions. The study of a policy usually involves tracing multiple interactions
among many individuals, many groups, and many institutions. Policy also involves
action as well as inaction. In other words, policy makers may fail to act and/or take de-
liberate decisions not to act. Policy as inaction is, however, more difficult to pin down
and analyse than policy as action, since it involves perceived behaviour and intent.
Policy can be seen as the overarching concept, whilst legislation or acts, regulations,
and instructions can be seen as purpose- and process-specific derivatives of public
policy.
Underpinned by policy discourse, much of MTE research and literature has preoccu-
pied itself with the following:
i. A description of policies, often language-in-education policies, which inform MTE
in many a polity.
ii. A description of the factors that underlie MTE policies in different polities.
iii. A prescriptive rendition of what should be the best MTE policy for different
polities.
iv. A bemoaning of the lack of appropriate MTE policies in different polities.
A singular failure of MTE research and literature which is premised on the policy dis-
course has been the lack of recognition of the political nature of public policy. In many
polities, the political infrastructure is controlled by the elites. Unless it further serves
the entrenchment of their power, elites do not implement policies that seek to undercut
their power. Inasmuch as the foregoing is the rule of the thump everywhere, it is more
apparent in the developing world. In these polities, elites [who are often a creation of
an educational, economic and political system premised on Western values] often use
mother tongue for political mobilisation, but revert back to other languages, especially
Western languages, for the business of governance. In exceptional cases where elites
agitate for MTE, as is the case with the Afrikaner elite in South Africa, it is because the
educational, political and economic fortunes of these elite are inextricably tied to their
mother tongue. Regrettably, to many developing world elite, mother tongue does not
feature in the project of modernising their countries. The masses in the developing
world also view mother tongue with suspicion –as a way of confining them to the
lower echelons of educational, political and economic achievement. This is a sad state
of affairs, but it is the case. To reverse this trend in the developing world, there is need
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for MTE research that understands the intricacies of public policy processes that
underpin MTE with the view of illustrating that MTE does not necessarily undermine
the power of the elites, but rather serves the greater good of preparing the active citi-
zens in a modernising democratic state.
Human rights/social justice discourse
The idea of human rights is one of the most powerful in contemporary social and poli-
tical discourse. It seeks to overcome divisiveness and sectarianism and to unite people
of different cultural and religious traditions in a single movement asserting human
values and the universality of humanity, at a time when such values are seen to be
under threat from the forces of economic globalisation and religious fanaticism. The
idea of human rights, by its very appeal to universally applicable ideas of the values of
humanity, seems to resonate across cultures and traditions and represents an important
rallying cry for those seeking to bring about a more just, peaceful and sustainable world
(Ife 2001).
An important aspect in classifying any claim as a human right is that anything classi-
fied as a human right has priority over other claims of right. To make a claim on the
basis of human rights, the following criteria must be met:
i. Realisation of the claimed right is necessary for a person or group to be able to
achieve their full humanity, in common with others.
ii. The claimed right is seen either as applying to all of humanity, and is something
that the person or group claiming the right wishes to apply to all people anywhere,
or as applying to people from specific disadvantaged or marginalised groups for
whom realisation of that right is essential to their achieving their full human
potential.
iii. There is substantial universal consensus on the legitimacy of the claimed right; it
cannot be called a ‘human right’unless there is widespread support for it across
cultural and other divides.
iv. It is possible for the claimed right to be effectively realised for all legitimate
claimants. This excludes rights to things that are in limited supply.
v. The claimed right does not contradict other rights (Ife 2001), pp. 10 –11.
The above criteria have largely framed the human rights discourse in MTE. MTE is
claimed as being necessary for a person or a group (especially the minorities and the
marginalised) to be able to achieve their full humanity, in common with others. MTE is
also seen as applying to all humanity and it is desired for all people anywhere and
everywhere. Further, the human rights discourse in MTE holds the view that MTE is
essential for people from the minorities and the marginalised to achieve full human po-
tential. Proponents of the human rights discourse in MTE have been able to mobilise
support to the extent that there is substantial universal consensus on the legitimacy of
MTE as a human right. They further argue that with proper institutional support, espe-
cially from governments, it is possible for MTE as a human right to be realised for all
legitimate claimants, especially at the foundational years of education; and that the
right to MTE does not contradict other rights.
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Closely related to the human rights discourse in MTE is the social justice discourse.
Essentially social justice relates to the principle that every effort should be made to en-
sure that individuals and groups all enjoy fair access to rewards. It is about creating a
more equitable, respectful and just society for everyone. However, social justice is not
necessarily about equality. It can be about providing equal opportunities to access an
unequal reward structure. In a society committed to the ideals of social justice, it is
recognised that fair treatment and equal opportunities for everyone can only be
brought about by imposing restrictions on the behaviour of some individuals or groups
(Furlong and Cartmel 2009), pp. 3 –4. From a social justice discourse perspective,
MTE is a way of ensuring individuals and groups enjoy fair access to education in a
manner that is equitable, respectful and just for everyone.
Development discourse
Another compelling discourse in MTE is the development discourse, both in its tra-
ditional nuance that conceptualised development as ‘modernisation’and the contempor-
ary nuance of development as ‘human development’. Modernisation posited that all
societies’progress in a linear fashion from a traditional state to modernity, with models of
development based on historical processes that had taken place in the industrialised
world. Historically, modernisation is the process of change towards those types of social,
economic and political systems that have developed in Western and North America from
the seventeenth century to the nineteenth and have spread to other European countries
and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the South American, Asian and African
continents. To the newly independent nations of the Third World, it held out the promise
of a guided transition to the state of developed industrial society. This perspective em-
bodies a simplistic dichotomy between the traditional and the modern, with modernisa-
tion depicted as the process of moving from the former to the latter (Haines 2009).
According to UNDP (1999), pp. 15–16:
Human development can simply be seen as a process of enlarging choices. Every day,
human beings make a series of choices –some economic, some social, some political,
some cultural. If people are the proper focus of development efforts, then these efforts
should be geared to enhancing the range of choices in all areas of human endeavour
for every human being. Human development is both a process and an outcome. It is
concerned with the process through which choices are enlarged, but it also focuses on
the outcomes of enhanced choices. Human development thus defined represents a sim-
ple notion, but one with far-reaching implications. Development of the people involves
building human capacities through the development of human resources. Development
for the people implies that the benefits of growth must be translated into the lives of
people, and development by the people emphasises that people must be able to partici-
pate actively in the processes that shape their lives.
The traditional nuance of development as ‘modernisation’explains why in many poli-
ties in the developing world MTE is only for the first few years of schooling before
transition to education in other languages, usually western languages. Within this
framework, MTE is conceptualised as being a simplistic but necessary precursor of
education in western languages. This orientation to development which informs many
an education system in the developing world accounts for the crises of MTE in
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developing world polities. Human development on its part accounts for the renewed
interest in MTE in many polities in the developing world. MTE is conceptualised as an
integral part of enlarging people’s choices within and outside the education system.
Mother tongue education in Kenya –an overview through time
All the discourses outlined in the previous section are manifest in MTE literature and re-
search on Kenya. An issue that is also evident in the MTE literature and research on
Kenya as Bunyi (2005), p. 131 aptly points out is that:
As in virtually all African countries, the hegemony of the colonial language English in
education has remained an enduring legacy of colonialism in Kenya. Current medium-of-
instruction policy in Kenya is that in linguistically homogenous school neighbourhoods,
the indigenous language of the area is to be used from standard 1 –3; in linguistically
heterogeneous school neighbourhoods, such as is the case in urban areas, the national
language Kiswahili or English is to be used. Where indigenous languages or Kiswahili are
used as the medium of instruction from standard 1 –3, a switch to English is to be made
at the beginning of standard 4.
The above MTE scenario in Kenya is a result of cumulative policy omissions and com-
missions through time. Mbaabu (1996) provides a cursory overview of these by documen-
ting that the Phelps Stokes Commission of 1924 recommended the use of only four
mother tongues for education in Kenya. These were Kiswahili, Dholuo, Luhyia and
Gikuyu. Later on, Nandi was added to cater for all Kalenjin languages. These languages
were very few given that the country has approximately forty distinct languages. To cater
for the whole country, each of the above mentioned languages had to be used by other re-
lated language communities. For example, Kiswahili had to be used in the whole of the
Coast Province and Gikuyu had to be used by Kikamba, Kimeru and Kiembu speakers. As
the need to use other languages of education dictated, more mother tongues were added
to the list. This was the case with the Beecher Report published in 1949. The committee
under Archdeacon Beecher had been established to inquire into such issues as the scope,
content and methods of African education. The report, which was accepted by the
Government in 1950, recommended that textbooks be provided in eight mother tongues
(besides Kiswahili). The mother tongues were Kidawida, Kikamba, Gikuyu, Maasai,
Kimeru, Nandi (Kalenjin) Oluluyia (Luhyia) and Dholuo. Other languages recognised by
the Beecher Report are Giriama, Pokot, Galla, Sagalla, Taveta, Suk, Kisii, Tende, Tesiot,
Boran, Turkana, and Somali. For these languages the Beecher Report recommended that
textbooks be translated for initial stages only. This tradition of using a few mother tongues
and increasing the number as the demand dictates has been followed up to now. The T.K.
K (Tujifunze Kusoma Kikwetu –Let us learn our mother tongue) series were introduced
in 15 mother tongues in 1968. The fifteen mother tongues are: Tesiot, Dholuo, Ekegusii,
Gikuyu, Igikuria, Kalenjin, Kidawida, Kigiryama, Kiswahili, Kikamba, Kimeru, Lulogooli,
Lubukusu, Oluluyia and Maasai. The assumption was and still is that the smaller mother
tongues would be catered for by larger closely related ones. Currently, a total of twenty-two
mother tongues have been identified for use in the education system in Kenya. They
include: Tesiot, Dholuo, Ekegusii, Gikuyu, Igikuria, Kalenjin, Kidawida, Kigiryama, Kiswahili,
Kikamba, Kimeru, Lulogooli, Lubukusu, Oluluyia, Maasai, Elmaa, Pokot, Sabawoot,
Ngaturkana, Somali, Ludirichi, and Kiembu.
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Primary teacher education in Kenya
Since independence in 1963, the Government of Kenya has committed itself to the
provision of adequate, properly trained and motivated primary school teachers. In this
respect, the Kenya Education Commission Report of 1964 (commonly known as the
Ominde Commission) and subsequent education reports and policy documents have all
reiterated the importance of matching teacher supply from various training institutions
with the demand in educational institutions. The Sessional Paper No. 6 of 1988 on
Education and Manpower Training for the Next Decade and Beyond, in particular, put
significant emphasis on quality teacher training. The Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 also
paid attention to effective teacher development and utilisation (Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology –Kenya MOEST 2005). According to the Kenya Education
Sector Support Programme (2005 –2010), there are 21 public primary teachers’trai-
ning colleges (TTCs) having an enrolment of about 17,000 students and an annual pro-
duction rate of about 8,500 teachers. This annual output is almost at par with the
annual attrition rate which is estimated at 8,000 teachers. The network of TTCs was
established by government as part of its commitment to providing qualified, competent
and adequate teachers to all primary schools in the country. TTCs are financed prima-
rily through government grants and student subsidies. Some of them also engage in
income generating activities. However, for them to operate normally, the government,
through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), meets the tutors’remuneration
and provides grants for tuition supplies, teaching practice and salaries for Board of
Governors (BOG) employees. The list of TTCs in Kenya is shown in Table 1.
Mbaabu (1996), p. 22 citing Mutua 1987, p.11) documents that “the Kenya primary
teacher education curriculum consists of the following 13 subjects: Professional studies;
English; Mathematics; Science; Art and Craft; Physical Education; Religious Education
(Christian and Islamic); Home Science; Music; Kiswahili; Geography, History and Civics
(A combined course); Business Education; and Agriculture”. The core courses among
these are: Professional studies, English, Kiswahili, Religious Studies, Mathematics, Science
and Physical Education. The optional subjects or electives are History, Geography,
Agriculture, Home Science, Music, and Arts and Crafts. In addition to the core subjects,
each student is expected to take three optional subjects in the second year. This curricu-
lum was first introduced in 1986 and later revised in 1994 and in 2004 after the review of
primary school curriculum. “The revised curriculum also addresses emerging issues in
Table 1 Public teacher training colleges (TTCs) in Kenya per province
Province Population No. of TTCs Names of TTCs
Rift Valley 8,418,100 5 Narok, Kericho, Mosoriot, Baringo, Tambach
Eastern 5,322,400 5 Kigari, Meru, Machakos, Kilimambogo, Igoji
Nyanza 4,984,900 3 Asumbi, Bondo, Migori
Western 4,151,000 2 Eregi, Kaimosi
Central 3,923,900 3 Kamwenja, Murang’a, Thogoto
Coast 2,975,400 1 Shanzu
Nairobi 2,845,400 1 Highridge
North Eastern 1,326,000 1 Garissa
Total 33,947,100 21
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics: 2006.
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society such as: HIV and AIDS pandemic; drug and substance abuse; environmental edu-
cation; human rights including children’s rights; gender issues; technology in curriculum
delivery; and alternative models of curriculum delivery”(Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology –Kenya MOEST 2005), p. 125. Although some scholars contend that
there should be an overt reference to pedagogics/didactics of mother tongue in the
teacher-training curriculum, these are taught under professional studies in which language
teaching (with specific reference to English and Kiswahili language teaching) constitutes a
critical part of the curriculum.
The quota system in Kenya’s education
The quota system in Kenya’s education has been a target of disparaging critique since it
was introduced in the mid 1980s. As Amutabi (2003) documents, the quota system re-
mains one of the most controversial inclusions in Kenya’s education system. It was in-
troduced into the country’s education system with the selection of students to join
Form One, the disbanded Form Five and colleges (diploma and certificate) as from
1985. It was formally endorsed in 1987. The quota system was precipitated by a num-
ber of factors, key amongst them being strategic ethno-political and economic permu-
tations in the period immediately after independence and the post Jomo Kenyatta
presidency era. President Jomo Kenyatta, whose ethnic group, the Kikuyu (mainly con-
fined in Central Province), had developed the best schools had just been succeeded by
President Moi, whose ethnic group, the Kalenjin (mainly confined in the Rift Valley
Province), and others like Western and Coast Provinces has perhaps the worst schools
in the whole nation. For instance, during Kenyatta’s time in 1977, of the eleven secon-
dary schools that took most students to university, five, namely Kagumo (92), Thika
(76), Alliance Boys (72), Alliance Girls (60) and Nyeri (48), were in Central Province.
Kagumo with 92 had more qualifiers to university that year than the whole of Western
Province schools that had a combined total of 87. After a few years of President Moi’s
rule, the fortunes of other provinces has changed vis-à-vis Central Province as the
President had helped in building the best schools in the country especially among his
ethnic group. Kabarak, Sacho, Moi Girls-Eldoret, Kapsabet Boys, Kipsigis Girls, Kabar-
net Boys, Kapkenda Girls, were emergent giants and yet the positions in these schools
were being shared equitably by students from areas like Central Province that were pre-
viously privileged, hence perpetuating the imbalance. This had to stop and the Kikuyu
had to be curtailed by confining them to Central Province if the other areas had to
catch up.
A 1985 Presidential directive therefore stipulated that each school admits 85% of its
students from the local area. This later on became policy for the Ministry of Education.
It was pointed out by the politicians that this new directive would give the local people
an opportunity to fully develop the schools in their region, knowing that they would
benefit them more than anybody else. But this was a negation of the policy of national
integration that was recommended in the Ominde Report of 1964 and to which the
education planners had been committed since independence. It had said that local
schools were likely to produce strong local and tribal feelings, which are destructive of
a sense of nationhood. Amutabi (2003) further documents that the quota system pro-
motes regionalism because it encourages localised approaches to problems and it
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provides the incubation and fertile ground for regional or ethnic nationalism. In an
interesting commentary on the impact of the quota system on language-in-education in
Kenya, Amutabi (2003), p. 135 submits that “the quota system is blamed for the
creeping of vernacular into secondary schools at a very alarming rate. The poor per-
formance in English language exams at the national level can find explanation in this
policy”.
While acknowledging the import of Amutabi’s (2003) analysis, the current discussion
does not subscribe to the deductions which can be characterised as simplistic. There
are many contingent factors that contribute to the increase in ethnic consciousness and
poor performance in foreign languages even in polities that do not have a quota system
in place. If anything, contemporary research characterises development trajectories that
are overly centralised [the anti-thesis of a quota system] as being responsible for “root-
less growth”–which causes people’s cultural identity to wither. In some cases minority
cultures are being swamped by dominant cultures whose power has been amplified by
growth. In other cases governments have deliberately imposed uniformity in the pursuit
of nation-building –say, with a national language. This can be dangerous. The violence
in the former Soviet Union and in the Balkan states of the former Yugoslavia is a tragic
legacy of culturally repressive governance. The nations that have held together best,
from Switzerland to Malaysia, are often those that have recognised cultural diversity
and decentralised economic and political governance to try and meet the aspirations of
all their people (UNDP 1996), p. 4. It is from this perspective of the viability of decen-
tralised/devolved governance structures that the quota system in Kenya’s education sys-
tem is conceptualised as a positive element that can be harnessed for MTE.
Primary teacher education and the quota system in MTE discourses in Kenya
Two factors contribute to the maintenance of quality in primary teacher training in
Kenya. First, curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation are centrally man-
aged by the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). This ensures a uniform implementation
of the curriculum in all the 21 TTCs. Secondly, qualification examinations for all TTCs,
which are centrally administered, are the sole preserve of the Kenya National Examina-
tions Council (KNEC). These two factors ensure that, save for individual attributes; a
primary school teacher in Kenya is as good as the next one. The implication of these
two factors to MTE in Kenya is that all primary school teachers are professionally pre-
pared in a standardised way to actualise MTE.
The quota system can be harnessed in support of MTE in Kenya in two fundamental
ways. First, because the quota system is used in the recruitment of teacher trainees it
ensures that all Kenya’s linguistic communities are represented in the cohort of ap-
proximately 8,500 teacher trainees who join and graduate from the 21 TTCs every year.
This translates to having all the mother tongues spoken in Kenya represented in the
primary teacher training system. In effect, every linguistic community in Kenya has a
pool of qualified primary school teachers who can effectively teach mother tongue and
teach in mother tongue. The net result of this dynamic is that teachers from Kenyan
TTCs can teach effectively in their own mother tongues. Secondly, with the quota sys-
tem being in place in the recruitment of teachers where the responsibility of teacher re-
cruitment is delegated to school committees of primary schools, the tendency of school
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committees is to recruit teachers who hail from the catchment area of the school. The
probability of such teachers being conversant with the language of the catchment area
(effectively the designated mother tongue of the school) is very high.
Conclusions (policy and pragmatic lessons)
In the introduction it was observed that in line with the core preoccupation of language
management of seeking to formulate approaches and/or frameworks that can be deployed
to harness language resources in society, quality primary teacher education and the quota
system can be harnessed to address the MTE quandary in Kenya, and possibly elsewhere.
The preceding discussion illustrates this observation. The discussion also brings to the
fore the following:
i. Language management provides a versatile framework of interrogating the
dynamics attendant to language in society in general and language-in-education
specifically.
ii. Discourse is an important construction in interrogating phenomena. It is critical in
seeking to understand and analyse language-in-education dynamics in general and
MTE in particular.
iii. Quality primary teacher education is a basic requirement in actualising MTE in any
polity.
iv. The notion of quotas, controversial as it may be, can be harnessed to positively
advance MTE agenda.
v. There is need for ethnographic and phenomenological research to investigate and
document what works and what does not work for MTE in different polities.
MTE discourse is critical and is bound to remain so for a long time especially in
the developing world. That this is the case is hardly surprising for as Mwaniki (2010)
pointedly submits, more than a century after the onset of the colonial project in
much of the developing world that has unequivocally sought to replicate the ethno-
linguistic homogenisation project of Western and Central Europe, it can safely be
submitted that this project has failed to produce the ‘desired’results of ethnolinguis-
tic homogenisation. Despite polities in the developing world pursuing unilingual
and/or bilingual policies which are largely inimical to MTE, multilingualism has not
vanished in this part of the world. It may just be time to acknowledge failure of the
ethnolinguistic homogenisation project of the last 100 years; and the viability and re-
silience of multilingualism the developing world. Such an acknowledgement will sig-
nal a new dawn for MTE in the developing world. A resurgent MTE discourse will
greatly benefit from language management.
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no competing interests.
Author’s information
Munene Mwaniki holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of the Free State, South Africa. Currently he is a Senior
Lecturer/Researcher at the Department of Linguistics & Language Practice, University of the Free State - Bloemfontein,
Republic of South Africa. His research focuses on sociolinguistics and Language Management in Africa.
Received: 13 February 2014 Accepted: 13 June 2014
Published: 11 July 2014
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Cite this article as: Mwaniki: Mother tongue education in primary teacher education in Kenya: a language
management critique of the quota system. Multilingual Education 2014 4:11.
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