Recently, a certain colleague expressed to me his frustrations about the negative attitude that several students have towards studying Kinyarwanda. He told me that over the years, he has struggled to teach the subject which many students especially those from top schools have little interest in. It is shocking to see that some of our students have failed to realise the reason why the education policy makers decided that Kinyarwanda should be compulsory at both primary and high school levels in this country.

What are the causes and effects of the negative attitude towards the subject?

I have taken some time trying to investigate the factors that seem to be responsible for this unpleasant situation but many of them are ridiculous.

The colleague told me that there are certain students who keep telling him that the language is local yet they have plans of studying from overseas in future. They intend to go to countries like the USa, Canada and France. This reasoning beats my understanding because as far as I know, the natives of the western countries promote their local languages and they make sure that whoever goes through the school system is able to read, write and speak the mother tongue fluently. So, who are we to disrespect our languages? Even if we choose to go to the western world, we still remain Africans by descent and that is why we should feel proud of our values.

Some students claim to be proficient in Kinyarwanda basing on their ability to speak it but being fluent in a language is not limited to just being able to speak it. Fluency means that the user of a given language is able to read and write in it, in addition to speaking it. There is no justification whatsoever for some students to keep dodging Kinyarwanda lessons yet the Britons, Americans and Australians who are native speakers of English language still study it at school.

I believe that parents have a big role to play in encouraging their children to attach value to learning Kinyarwanda. There are lots of cultural norms that are reflected in the curriculum for Kinyarwanda according to those who teach it. In addition to learning the grammar of the subject, the learners are also taught how the Rwandans of different age groups are expected to conduct themselves and the roles that the people of each category are supposed to play in order to foster unity and mutual respect. Most of our highly treasured customs are reflected in the local languages that we use and that is why it is imperative for every individual to leave high school when they have had enough exposure to the local language in terms of understanding its grammar and norms.

It is wrong in my view for some parents to influence their children to dislike learning the subject just because they have wonderful plans for them. There is no ‘wonder’ that surpasses the beauty of one’s own language. Moreover, several job adverts in the newspapers indicate that the applicants must be fluent in English Language and Kinyarwanda. Therefore, the parents who do not encourage their children to study Kinyarwanda with enthusiasm ruin their chances of getting jobs that require them to work with local communities.

The irony is that many of the students who show little or no interest in studying Kinyarwanda, do not participate actively in learning English language. They claim to know it already basing on their ability to speak it. If this problem is not checked, schools may continue producing young people who lack masterly of both the local and foreign languages.

Language policy makers in this country need to look into this matter seriously and come up with strategies and policies that can help to enforce effective learning of Kinyarwanda, English language and French.

The writer is a teacher