Implementation of the Zimbabwe language-in-education policy in selected Masvingo rural primary schools: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The Zimbabwe Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP) enshrined in the 1987 Education Act (amended in 2006), allows the use of mother tongue in teaching up to Grade Seven. Contrary to the stated policy, primary school teachers continue to use English as the medium of instruction in primary schools. This qualitative case study aimed at exploring the views of teachers and school heads pertaining to challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the Zimbabwe (LiEP). Fifteen rural primary school teachers and three school heads were purposefully selected from one district in Masvingo province of Zimbabwe. Semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and face-to-face individual interviews were used to collect data. The analysis of data was done using the constant comparative method for thematic coding. The findings indicated that the major challenge was that teachers and school heads had negative attitudes towards the mother language due to colonial influence. Participants were of the view that the LiEP was not relevant, hence they strongly resisted its implementation in rural primary schools. This was despite that they knew that learners struggled to understand concepts which were presented in a foreign language. The paper recommended professional development as an effective strategy which could assist educators in creating opportunities that could enable them to embrace the mother tongue based LiEP.