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By Lesley Moyo
14 November 2010
THIS year will turn out to be a memorable year for the Tonga people in Zimbabwe, following the writing of the first Grade Seven Tonga language paper under the Provincial Education Office.
This is a pilot run to assess whether the pupils are ready to sit for a public examination set and written in their own language.
If government is satisfied, the examination will be made official at the next public examination next year.
It will become the first minority indigenous language to be written under the Zimbabwe School Examination Council.
Since independence minority groups in the country have been limited to the two most dominant local languages, Ndebele and Shona, in the school’s curriculum.
In an interview Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart, blamed his predecessors for taking long to give recognition to minority indigenous languages.
“I do not know why it has taken all these years to get recognition. I have made the recognition of marginalised indigenous languages a priority,†said Coltart.
Early this year, the ministry of Education, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other donors entered into a partnership to procure millions of textbooks and stationery kits for schools nationwide.