Using Mother Tongue in Teaching of STEM for Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe

Introduction

Language remains central to human society for interactions at any level either academic or social (Ozoemena, Ngweke, & Nwoko, 2021). Language has been defined as engagement among people which involve symbols and where auditory and oral features are used (de Castillo, 2015). Language provides human beings with a facility for thought and creativity.Language is situated in culture and is passed on from one generation to the next. Language is intimately linked to issues of identity of a people,their history, and aspirations and potential for creativity. Because language plays a central role in education, it becomes very political in terms which language can be used in education and which language is marginalised.Human beings are acknowledged to be social beings and this connotes that they share beliefs, knowledge and customs. It because of the primacy of mother tongue in education that United Nations, Scientific and Cultural Organisations has been a chief advocate on the use of mother tongue as instrument for learning in schools for early childhood education since 1953. It is apparent that if sustainable development is to occur among the different nations, it is imperative to ensure that instruction occurs in mother tongue throughout the education system with other foreign languages being taught as subject even up to University.

Mensa (2019) avers that the term sustainable development is being used in as a mantra in day to day engagements. The term has continued to evade many people and the history of sustainable development has remained obscure for many people. The chapter will present a brief background of sustainable development in terms of the origins of the

The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to sustainable development discourse especially in terms educational practices in the teaching of Sciences, Technology, Engneering and Mathematics (STEM). Sustainable Development and Teaching of STEM. The chapter will also argue that using mother tongue in teaching of STEM, is the key to ascertaining sustainable development for developing nations.

Background To Zimbabwean Education

Peresuh & Masuku (2002) asserted that was occupied by Britan and it attained political autonomy in 1980. From the inception of the colonial state missionaries of European origin, played a dominant role in the financing and provision of education to the indigenous population. The major socio-lingustic composition in Zimbabwe are the Shona constituting making up 70% of the population followed by the Ndebele who make up more than 15% of the population. Other minority lingustic categories are Venda, Tonga, Kalanga, Ndau and Sotho which make up approximately 12% of the population. Unfortunately English a language that is utilised by less than 1% of the population is the official lingua franca of the country (Peresuh & Masuku, 2002).

Chivhunga & Chimhenga (2013) noted that the current teaching practices in Zimbabwe promotes the use of English language as the offcial lingua in schools. English has tended to exercise hegemony in areas such as in spheres such as business,education, administration and politics. This dominance of English has affected the development of African languages in terms of being utilised as a language of instruction in STEM in schools.This has a negative impact on the need to promote sustainable teaching of STEM in Zimbabwean schools. Sustainable education means that the mother tongue has to gain priority in terms of being the language of instruction in schools in line with learning and development theories such as socialcultural theory by Vygotsky which articulates the way cognitive development occurs in socialcultural context.

More than fourty years after political independence Zimbabwe has not yet developed a language policy. Indigenous languages have not been endorsed as a language of instruction although empirical evidence support the use of mother tongue for meaningful learning (Chivhunga & Chimhenga, 2013). In the next section, the coloniality of language is explored in more detail.