The government is in the process of facilitating the gazettement of the national steering committee on development, use and preservation of indigenous languages, Kenyan sign languages, and braille.
Speaking at Makutano in West Pokot County, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha said the initiative will boost the development of alphabetic writing among marginalized and minority speech communities to enhance inclusivity.
CS Magoha said the Ministry of Education and other development partners will strive to ensure the endangered and marginalized languages are developed, utilized and preserved as desired to capture the letter and spirit of promoting multilingualism and inclusion. “We are seeking to explore the use of diverse languages globally and across local communities to promote not only the reading and writing culture, but also to preserve indigenous languages and foster inclusivity of the marginalized individual learners and communities,” he said.
He noted that under the Competence Based Curriculum, the Ministry of Education is encouraging learners at lower grades to be conducted with indigenous languages for faster and easier learning and also as a way of preserving the indigenous languages. “This is a good approach to ensure that learning is effectively and conveniently delivered in the easiest language that learners can understand before translating to a second language.”
