The Contribution of Mother-Tongue Education to Promote Indigenous Knowledge: the Case of Bale Zone in Oromia Region
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Date
2012-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Since few decades, a conceptual shift has been observed regarding the development
di scourse from increased capital with the goal of modernizing a society to a broader, contextspecific
approach that considers cultural values and local technology. For these people's
indigenous potentials to have significant intervention on the rural development strategies,
they must be promoted some way. It is in this cultural and knowledge promotion scheme that
the use of people's indigenous language in education, which is an appropriate setting not
only for acquisition of external, scientific knowledge but also for inducing students into local
way of life, calls due attention. The core argument in this study framework is that the role of
mother tongue based bilingual education should not be limited to pedagogical service. It
should contribute to cultural dimension of development by harnessing society'S indigenous
potentials in local development scenario.
The major concern of this study was to explore the contribution of mother tongue education
in promoting indigenous knowledge systems. The objectives of the study were to examine
notable indigenous knowledge of agriculture dominantly used in the study area and the ex lent
to which the use of Oromo language in education is contributing to the promotion of these
practices with the implication of contributing to the rural development. Further investigation
was also sought to examine parents' participation in decision making about what students
learn at school. To achieve these objectives, interdisciplinary qualitative exploratory
approach was employed. The data were collected through qualitatively designed interviews
and focus group discussions from primary school teachers and students, regional curriculum
designers, rural development experts, education officers, and local farmers. Field
observations and students' textbooks review were also carried out. The textual data were
analyzed thematically using generic procedures of qualitative content analysis supported by
Open Code 3.4 version software.
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The Contribution of Mother-Tongue Education