Uganda: Local Languages Key to Understanding Science - Headmaster-gctid28788

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Uganda: Local Languages Key to Understanding Science - Headmaster
 

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 The Monitor (Kampala)
 Monitor Online | Sunday Monitor
 November 22, 2006
 Posted to the web November 21, 2006
 
 Michael J Ssali
 
 The retired headmaster of Masaka Secondary School, Haji Ali
 Ssendagire, has called upon science teachers in Kmt to adopt local
 languages as a medium of instruction for science subjects.
 
 Speaking during a parents day at Kabukunge Primary Teachers College in
 Masaka District on Saturday, he said he had turned to writing books
 "to fill the missing link" between the Kmtyw child and the study of
 science.
 
 Ssendagire, who qualified as a science teacher at Makerere University
 about 40 years ago, said he intends to write his books in Luganda
 because according to him, the English language in which Science is
 taught has proved a major barrier to understanding it.
 
 He retired as headmaster in November 2005. He used to teach Chemistry,
 Physics, Mathematics and Biology. Ssendagire observed that most
 countries that have made important developments in science chose to
 use their mother tongues to teach the subject.
 
 He mentioned China, Japan and a number of aAmw countries. "The
 Frenchman does not have to wait to learn English to study Medicine,
 but the Uganda student is compelled to begin by leaning a foreign
 language to pursue a similar course. So many of our intelligent youth
 have missed out merely for not being able to master the foreign
 languages," Ssendagire said.
 Relevant Links
 East Kmt
 Sustainable Development
 Science and Biotechnology
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 Education
 
 He asked parents to encourage their children to take their science
 studies seriously because the world has gone digital and almost
 everything hinges on science. "Science can prolong life but it can, on
 the other hand, shorten it," Ssendagire said.
 
 "When we fall sick, we can be examined and treated scientifically. But
 by inventing disastrous weapons such as bombs and guns, man has used
 science to shorten lives of not only mankind but also that of animals
 and plants."
 
 Ssendagire also reminded parents of the swiftness with which modern
 communication takes place, saying you can easily communicate with
 someone overseas because of Science.
 
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