Linguistic and Religious Diversity and Inclusivity in the Botswana School Curriculum

Introduction

The world is characterized by various forms of diversity such as linguistic and religious diversities. Botswana, a Southern African country, is no exception to this trend. The country is both linguistically (Andersson and Janson, 1997) and religiously heterogenous (Amanze, 1998). Diversity, in whatever form, is not easy to accommodate and manage in school curricula. Therefore, accommodation and management of diversity remains a tall order for many an education system. In this paper, we explore the extent to which Botswana accommodates linguistic and religious diversity in its school curriculum. We focus on linguistic and religious diversity since these are some of the most politically delicate and controversial forms of diversity in the world, which, if not properly managed, could lead to conflicts. Both language and religion diversities have the potential of creating the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide. For example, religious intolerance, arising out of religious diversity, continues to create a fertile ground for conflicts, some of which can be violent and fatal. For example, in the Middle East, Asia and some parts of Africa, violent conflicts have sprung up between Christians and Moslems. For instance, some of the armed conflicts in Nigeria are part of the Christians versus Moslems conflict. This is not to say that there is always unity among all those who belong to the same religion. In Iraq, Pakistan and other Islam-dominant countries, for example, violent clashes do occur between different sects of the same faith. Amongst Christians, for example, one finds violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and other countries. Language diversity too has its own share in some of the world’s disputes and conflicts. Equally important is the fact that even within one language, there is always diversity (just as is the case with religions having internal diversities).

The paper seeks to assess the extent to which Botswana’s school curricula (for primary and secondary schools) reflect and accommodate the country’s linguistic and religious diversity. To this end, the paper has been structured as follows: first, we give a brief overview of Botswana’s socio-political, economic and educational situation. This is followed by a section that provides the paper’s theoretical orientation. After that, we discuss linguistic diversity and inclusivity in education, followed by religious diversity and inclusivity in education in Botswana. Finally, we wrap up the discussion with a summary and some concluding remarks.

Botswana: Socio-political, economic and education situation

Botswana is situated in Southern Africa, and shares borders with South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia. Covering an area of 581,730 square kilometers, Botswana is covered largely by the Kalahari Desert. The country is sparsely populated. Currently, the population stands at around two million. Until 1966, Botswana (then called Bechuanaland) was a British protectorate. At independence in 1966, Botswana was a very poor country. However, the situation changed dramatically after the discovery of diamonds. Botswana has since then become a middle income country. It boasts of a well managed economy and a stable and democratic political environment. The country has received praise from the international community for its zero tolerance for corruption. It is against this background that Botswana ranks high on the African continent in terms of global competitiveness, quality of public services and sustainable development. Botswana has, since its attainment of independence from Britain in 1966, been a multiparty democracy. This is unlike other African countries (such as Malawi, Zambia and others) each of which, at some point in its post-colonial history, was a one-party state. It is against this background that Botswana has been celebrated as an African success story (Chisholm and Chilisa, 2012).

Given that this paper focuses on Botswana, it is necessary at this point to give a brief overview of the country’s education system. Currently, Botswana’s education system is guided by the Revised National Policy on Education (Republic of Botswana, 1994). Basic education comprises primary and junior secondary school sectors, covering a total of 10 years. The primary education sector runs for seven years whilst the junior secondary school is for three years. The senior secondary school runs for two years. After senior secondary school, learners can enter the tertiary education level. There are two public universities, namely the University of Botswana and Botswana International University of Science and Technology.

Theoretical lenses

A theoretical framework that is relevant when analyzing Botswana’s linguistic diversity is Cobarrubias’s (1983) language planning ideologies. In this paper, we pay special attention to two language planning ideologies, i.e. linguistic assimilation and linguistic pluralism. At independence in 1966, Botswana adopted a nation-building strategy that was founded on the principle of one nation, one language. This strategy was motivated by a deep-seated fear of linguistic diversity. There was a strong faith in the magic powers of a single indigenous language of national unity. It is against this background that Setswana was declared the national language and it became the only indigenous language that has official status in the education system. To this end, the education system has driven non-Setswana-speaking groups into assimilation into the Setswana-speaking majority (Boikhutso and Jotia, 2013; Jotia and Pansiri, 2013; Mafela, 2009a, 2009b; Molosiwa, 2009a, 2009b; Nyati-Ramahobo, 2000).

Our second language planning ideology – linguistic pluralism – is an acknowledgement that linguistic diversity is a reality that has to be recognized (Cobarrubias, 1983). To this end, official recognition is given to more than one language. This is what has happened in post-apartheid South Africa where 11 languages (Afrikaans, English and nine African languages) have been given official status. This ideology recognizes and celebrates linguistic diversity, and also appreciates that there can be unity in diversity. It is argued that it is actually the suppression of diversity that can breed resistance, resentment and conflict. In contrast to South Africa, Botswana has recognized only one indigenous language (Setswana) and accorded it space within the school curriculum (Boikhutso and Jotia, 2013; Jotia and Pansiri, 2013; Mafela, 2009a, 2009b; Molosiwa, 2009a, 2009b; Nhlekisana, 2009; Nyati-Ramahobo, 2000).

We now turn to a theoretical framework that is suitable for addressing religious diversity in Botswana. This is the interpretive approach to religious education. It was developed in the United Kingdom (Jackson, 1997, 2004, 2011, 2012). The interpretive approach employs three concepts in the analysis of diversity, namely: representation, interpretation and reflexivity. According to this approach, religions should not be perceived as bounded systems. The approach acknowledges religions’ complexity, internal diversity and their varying interactions with culture. Religious diversity is recognized because its flexible nature allows for the uniqueness of each person while giving due attention to various influences which help shape an individual’s sense of personal and social identity (Jackson, 1997, 2004, 2011, 2012). The interpretive approach also adopts elements of the phenomenological approach to religious education as espoused by Smart (1968), which provides an objective study to religion and non-religious ideologies in a pluralistic society. The interpretive approach offers a reflective study of religion that recognizes the importance of the life-world of the individual. The approach encourages mutual respect of religions, cultural systems and promotes peaceful coexistence of different religions. Recognition of the need for mutual respect of religions and cultures provides a template for the management of religious diversity (Jackson, 1997, 2004, 2011, 2012).

Like other African countries, Botswana is multilingual and multicultural (Batibo and Smieja, 2000). The 2001 population census identified at least 15 languages in Botswana. Other sources talk of between 20 and 28 languages, depending on what counts as a language or dialect (Andersson and Janson, 1997; Nyati-Saleshando, 2011). About 78% of Batswana (citizens of Botswana) speak Setswana as their mother tongues. The remaining 22% of Batswana have minority languages as their mother tongue. The language policy does not accord official status to any of the minority languages, and this situation has led to the marginalization of minority languages (Batibo and Smieja, 2000). Whilst Ikalanga is the largest minority language that has undergone considerable corpus planning, other minority languages have minute populations of speakers and the languages themselves have very low levels of corpus planning. The Khoesan languages (the languages of the so-called Bushmen or Basarwa or San) stand out as the most marginalized. These languages are also heavily stigmatized due to the low social status of their speakers. As Mafela (2009b: 232) notes, the ‘Basarwa are the most marginalized socio-linguistic group in Botswana, and are despised even by those who were themselves subordinated by others’.

The San/Basarwa are classified as indigenous peoples. There have been concerns that the school curricula do not include the history, language, culture and traditions of non-Tswana ethnic groups such as the San/Basarwa (Hayes, 2011; Ntseane, 2011; Pansiri, 2011; United Nations, 2006). The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination notes with concern the difficulties that many children belonging to these ethnic groups face at school due to linguistic barriers. To this end, the committee welcomed ‘the State party’s willingness to provide primary education in the main mother tongues of non-Tswana tribes’ (United Nations, 2006: 5). This, however, remains unaccomplished. It is important to stress that the language factor is one of the key contributors to poor academic performance among the San/Basarwa. As Mafela (2009b: 239) points out, ‘the failure of schools to acknowledge the language and culture of Basarwa children has negatively impacted on their confidence, self-esteem, self-concept and overall identity. These conditions do not bode well for their retention, performance and progression in school’.

Setswana is a compulsory subject for all citizens in primary schools. English is also a compulsory subject throughout primary school. Setswana serves as the medium of teaching and learning in Standard 1; and English takes over as the medium of teaching and learning from Standard 2 onwards (Republic of Botswana, 1994). This means that only Setswana mother tongue speakers enjoy the right to mother tongue education. Prior to the Revised National Policy on Education of 1994, teaching and learning through Setswana went all the way up to Standard 4. This language-in-education policy disadvantages pupils who belong to linguistic minority groups. For such pupils, learning is synonymous with fighting a war on two fronts – the learning of new concepts and learning through an unfamiliar language. When a child is taught initially through his/her mother tongue or any other familiar language, learning is reduced to a war on one front – the learning of new concepts. There is research evidence indicating that the non-use of the mother tongue (as a medium of teaching and learning) is one of the major contributors to the high rate of school drop out among the Khoesan-speaking pupils in Botswana (see relevant chapters in Kamwendo et al., 2009).

Since the language policy does not provide space for minority languages, it actually contradicts the aspirations of Vision 2016:

Botswana’s wealth of different languages and cultural traditions will be recognized, supported and strengthened within the education system. No Motswana will be disadvantaged in the education system as a result of a mother tongue that differs from the country’s two official languages (Republic of Botswana, 1997: 5).

Though the official policy is that English becomes the medium of teaching and learning from Standard 2, the reality on the ground is that use of Setswana as a medium of teaching and learning continues beyond Standard 2; and/or there is code-switching between English and Setswana or other indigenous language(s). Code-switching extends to secondary schools (see, for example, Mafela, 2009a).

It is important to highlight some of the key statements made by the then Minister of Education on the language-in-education policy. The minister seemed to be sending conflicting signals. He was in support of mother tongue education as per the speech he gave at the official opening of a regional conference on mother tongue education on 1 June 2005 (see Nkate, 2009). He, however, outlined some stumbling blocks to the creation of a linguistically inclusive language-in-education policy. He noted, for example, that for such a small population as Botswana’s, developing materials in the different languages would not benefit from economies of scale. Another fear is that the mother tongue education policy, through its focus on ethnic and regional languages, has the potential of promoting regionalism. Another concern was that the majority of languages in Botswana had such a low level of corpus planning that they could not be used effectively in education. However, on a positive note, the minister reported that at least six languages had a level of corpus planning that makes them potential tools in education. Minister Nkate then alluded to his dilemmas as follows:

Should I be expending resources on mother tongue when I am not able to introduce pre-primary education in the formal schooling system and am battling with backlog of facilities in both primary and secondary schools? (Nkate, 2009: 25).

The minister’s second dilemma is captured by the following statement:

As Minister responsible for Education, should I prioritize mother tongue education, which has the potential for promoting inward-looking, or should I promote languages that will enable Batswana to compete favourably in a global economy? (Nkate, 2009: 25).

The second dilemma actually nullifies the minister’s earlier claim that he supports a linguistically inclusive education system. The national vision of Botswana (i.e. Vision 2016) is very supportive of a linguistically inclusive education system. The Vision acknowledges and appreciates Botswana’s linguistic diversity. The Vision also challenges Batswana to harness their linguistic diversity in order to build a united and proud nation. What is lacking, however, is the will to implement the aspirations of the Vision. The school curriculum does not practice what the Vision preaches. There is, therefore, a mismatch between Vision 2016 and the reality on the ground in the school curriculum. As Boikhutso and Jotia (2013) argue, the education system has to push aside the erroneous view that Botswana is ethnically and linguistically homogenous, and then proceed to put in place a linguistically inclusive language policy.

Religious inclusivity in education

We now turn to religious diversity in Botswana. The main religions found in Botswana are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Baha’i Faith, Buddhism and Sikhism. Christian groups found in Botswana are mainline churches such as the Anglican Church, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Dutch Reformed Church and United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (previously called the London Missionary Church). From these churches, breakaway churches which are known as African Independent Churches have sprung up and these command a larger following than the mainline churches. The major attraction to African Independent Churches is their contextualization of the Christian message to African conditions. Other Christian religious groups found in Botswana are the Pentecostal churches. These tend to attract the young and educated members of the society (Amanze, 1998).

At independence in 1966, the brand of religious education that was taught in Botswana schools was mainly instruction in bible knowledge (Mmolai, 1988). However, through the First National Commission on Education of 1977, a recommendation was made that bible knowledge be replaced with a new subject. As a result, religious and moral education was introduced in both primary and secondary schools (Republic of Botswana, 1977). The syllabus was mainly Christianity-based and the moral education component emphasized Christian morals. The commission felt that bible knowledge did not help to develop the character of the individual. As a result of this recommendation, the Ministry of Education adopted a religious education syllabus that had been developed in East Africa by Catholic and Protestant representatives from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. The religious education approach was theological and it also included a study of life themes. The aim of the syllabus was to relate Christian religion to life experiences of students. In this way, the syllabus did not accommodate religious diversity. It promoted a mono-religious approach to the study of religious education.

The education policy shift in 1994 offered a window of hope for the accommodation of religious diversity in Botswana’s education system. The Revised National Policy on Education introduced changes in the education system. The policy took cognizance of the democratic and pluralistic nature of the country. It was argued that the education system should produce learners who would negotiate their way into the multiplicity of world-views prevalent in the society. The policy then recommended that religious education be separated from moral education. Religious education was to be taken by learners who were interested in religious instruction. Moral education, on the other hand, was introduced to expose learners to moral values. Moral education became a core subject in the curriculum taught to all learners irrespective of their religious backgrounds while religious education remained an optional subject. It was argued that morality can exist independent of religion and that some moral principles that are shared by humanity are not necessarily based on religion. The emphasis on moral aspects of life can be linked to pillar number six of Vision 2016: a moral and tolerant nation (Republic of Botswana, 1997). Even though the separation of religious education from moral education was not necessarily informed by educational considerations, it provided an opportunity for religious education to move away from a mono-religious syllabus to a religious education that accommodates religious diversity through a new syllabus that introduced the learner to an objective study of world religions (Republic of Botswana, 1994).

A multi-faith religious education syllabus is now in place in Botswana. This syllabus is phenomenological in nature. It encourages students to set aside their assumptions about religions whose content was introduced in the classroom. The new syllabus requires learners to show understanding in their study of religions. The approach encourages learners to be in dialogue with living religions. Phenomenology leads the individual to put herself/himself in the shoes of the believer in order to develop empathy. Phenomenology also involves the exercise of suspension of judgment in order to understand religions as they are known and experienced by the faith communities. When this approach was adopted to underpin the study of religious education in Botswana, it was hoped that in the process learners would develop the ability to transcend their culture in order to begin to understand and/or appreciate other cultures and religions (Republic of Botswana, 1994).

One immediate challenge experienced when the multi-faith religious education was introduced was skepticism on the part of some parents about the radical change of the subject. Some voices, communicated mainly through the media, were opposed to the new multi-faith religious education since they claimed that Botswana is a Christian country. However, this assertion does not hold as Botswana is a secular country. In schools, the challenge experienced when the multi-faith syllabus was introduced had to do with the inadequacy of teaching materials and the lack of support for teachers. Some teachers who were trained to teach Christianity-based religious and moral education were now expected to teach the new multi-faith religious education syllabus without the necessary re-training. The only semblance of training they received was in the form of workshops that just gave them a hurried overview of the new syllabus (Seretse, 2003). As a result, teachers were left in limbo (Seretse, 2003). A similar observation was made by Sepotlo (2004) that the syllabus specified what to teach but not how to teach. It was assumed that the teachers would know what to teach once they received the syllabus. This reduced the teaching of multi-faith religious education in the classroom to the transmission of facts on religions (Matemba, 2005; Seretse, 2003). Teachers taught the subject as if religion was not alive in the world of the learners. The open nature of the syllabus also posed a challenge since it was up to the discretion of the teacher to decide on which religion to teach. As a result, indigenous African traditional religions were marginalized because teachers preferred to teach the highly resourced world religions. In this respect, the syllabus has failed to acknowledge the socio-cultural backgrounds of learners. A compromise to the accommodation of religious diversity in the classroom is that some learners were of the view that some teachers do not understand their social backgrounds, hence teachers find it difficult to draw examples from their home experiences (Modiakgotla, 2003; Selelo, 2007; Seretse, 2003).

Summary and conclusion

At independence in 1966, Botswana started off with a linguistic assimilation policy. Over the years, this policy has come under attack, especially in the education domain where there has been a call for the inclusion of minority languages. As we write this paper, the situation remains unchanged. The language-in-education policy has not created spaces for the recognition and celebration of linguistic diversity. Whilst Botswana is credited as a shining example of democracy and political stability on the African continent (see Chisholm and Chilisa, 2012), its record on the inclusion of linguistic diversity in the school curricula has not been good. In line with its adoption of linguistic assimilation policy, curricula have accorded recognition to only one local language. As a result, non-Tswana ethnic groups cry foul, claiming that the school curricula render their cultures and languages invisible (Boikhutso and Jotia, 2013; Hayes, 2011; Jotia and Pansiri, 2013; Mafela, 2009a, 2009b; Molosiwa, 2009a, 2009b; Ntseane, 2011; Nyati-Saleshando, 2011; Pansiri, 2011).

In sharp contrast to the language curriculum, the religious education curriculum has undergone some transformations in line with inclusivity. The outcome has been a multi-faith religious education that is more inclusive than the previous subjects. The interpretive approach to religious education aims to develop the culture of acknowledging, understanding and respecting religious diversity. In summary, one can say that the language curriculum has done less to accommodate diversity than has been the case with the religious education curriculum.