English

Abstract

This study examined the challenges facing the teaching as well as the implementation of Awgni as a mother tongue language in primary schools of Awi administrative zone. The need to teach through mother tongue in Ethiopia was widely discussed following the change of the politics in 1991. To this end, the government issued new education and training policy since 1994 in which nations and nationalities provided with the right to learn in one’s own language at primary schools. The change in language policy ensures the equality of the languages that nations and nationalities use as medium of instruction at primary schools and tools for preservation of cultural identity. Some writers considered it as the era of language revival. Awgni is one of the nationality languages widely spoken in Awi Nationality Administrative Zone. Though Agaw language has long history in Ethiopia, Awgni (one sect of the Agaw) was confined to rural and pocket lands of Agew Medir and Metekel areas. Years back, the Awgni language had never been in written use and traditionally considered as the language of the noneducated society. The implementation of the Awgni as the mother tongue education in Awi Administrative Zone started in 1996 at five primary schools, one pilot school in each woreda. A year later, teaching in Awgni as medium of instruction was put into practice throughout all primary schools where Awgni is dominantly spoken. The findings of this study show that teaching through Awgni was followed by a wave of parents’, students’ and teachers’ resistance against using Awgni as medium of instruction at primary schools. The resistance was emanated from various sociolinguistic myths irrespective of its pedagogical advantage. The five pilot schools, which were pioneer for implementation of Awgni as medium of instruction, were selected for this study. Wide ranges of primary and secondary sources were consulted. Parents, students, teachers and educational experts who contributed to the implementation were interviewed. The sources are critically collected, scrutinized and then analyzed. The validities of the sources are cross-checked against each other.