The Teacher as a Contributory Factor in Failure to Implement Mother Tongue Education Policy in Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to examine the teacher as a contributory factor in failure of Mother Tongue Policy implementation in Nandi County Kenya. The teacher as well as other stakeholders have been blamed for the lackadaisical approach to Mother Tongue Education in Kenya, but no in-depth study has been carried out to ascertain the authenticity of the claims. The current study was carried out in Nandi County, Kenya, to examine the role of the teacher in Mother Tongue Education. The study was guided by Butzkam’s Mother tongue Theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design in which a purposive sample of 20 head teachers, 20 lower primary school teachers, and 5 officials from Nandi County Education office were used to generate the research data. The study used structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Data was analyzed qualitatively. Results revealed that most ECDE centers in Nandi County did not use mother tongue as the Language of Instruction (LOI) rather they used English or Kiswahili as the LOI in lower classes. The study also revealed that attitude of teachers is a barrier in the implementation of mother tongue education in Nandi County. It was also revealed that teachers were ill prepared to teach in mother tongue. The results of this study will benefit Ministry of Education, teachers, students, parents and other stake-holders interested in language education. The study findings may also be useful to international bodies such as UNICEF and UNESCO in reporting, comparing data and developing innovations in education.