International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XII, December 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Godfrey C. Kain
Laboratory of African Studies and the Diaspora, University of Dschang, Cameroon
Abstract: Basic Education teachers in Kom face challenges in their attempts to use the Kom language as a medium of instruction. They attribute the challenges to limited terminologies in Kom that can be used to teacher other subjects rather than teach the Kom language as a subject. Diagnosis carried out through observations in their case study necessitate the creation of Kom Education Key Terms. They need Key Terms to match foreign concepts in the subjects that are taught as their education content.
It is as a result of this challenge that one prioritized to create Kom Education Key Terms with a mixed (KEKT) to fill the vacuum identified in the Kom Education programme. The attempt falls in line with the call for the development of every people’s language in the world as a cultural, and education right. It seems too late as foreign languages are already the order of the day, domineering in religion, education, administration, politics, economic, and health domains of the peoples’ lives.
The Kom language is just one out of the two hundred and eighty-two languages that exist in Cameroon not standardized. It is on the given tenets that one attempts to give a balance sheet of his/her auto-ethnographic experiences in the development of the (KEKT). During the execution of two renown projects within the Kom community. One got involved in two principal Kom projects namely; the Operational Research Project for Language Education in Cameroon (PROPELCA) and the Kom Education Pilot Project (KEPP) executed from 1992 to 2006 and 2006-present day respectively. The latter came into existence when the former declined due to reasons already advanced and financial issues that were as take. If a timely solution is not fetched, the problem can continue and could disrupt the education initiatives that have been invested in the Kom community with likely effect on low academic performances. The KEKT were exercised in the three subdivisions of Belo, Fundong, Njinikom and the regional headquarters in Bamenda where notions on education were listened, analysed, and attempted solutions were proposed.
KeyWords:“language,”‟multilingualism,”‟curriculum,”‟education,”‟key terms,”‟administration”.
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper seeks to present an auto-ethnographic study that exposes experiences obtained during the execution of the Kom Education Pilot Project, particularly in the development of the KEKT. It is a response to numerous complaints from teachers that national languages lack expressions to teach lessons with the use of Mother Tongue as a medium of instruction. Education promoters seem to find themselves at crossroads as they involve in the Kom MT education struggle