Luanda – The minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, announced Monday in Luanda the introduction of the national vernacular (indigenous) languages in the next school year, gradually starting in primary education.
According to the official, who did not provide details, the ministry is working “so that it can be taught in a more sustainable way”.
Luísa Grilo, who was speaking at the publication ceremony of eight studies on languages of Angola, defended the bilingual education in Angola to enable mutual acquaintance, preservation and respect of different cultures, as well as reducing hierarchies.
She explained that it will also promote the growth and development of languages that have been less widely used to date, so that they can become languages of science for the culture of peace.
To her, the Portuguese language within the framework of its pluricentric feature will play the role of helper because it has been a language of science for some time.
However, she acknowledge that there is still work to do and due to that the ministerial department will continue the studies and organization of teaching techniques, in which all constructive collaboration will be welcome, with a view to the quality of education.
As part of the celebration of the International Mother Language Day, the Ministry of Education (MED), presented eight studies resulting from master's and doctoral thesis in the fields of Applied Linguistics, Lexicology, Lexicography, Terminology, Literature, Journalism, History and Mathematics.
Some of the scholarly works which were developed between 2013 to 2022 are “Draft Law on multilingual ontoterminographic tourism database”, “Phonetic and phonological competence in Portuguese second language (PL2) in learners with Kimbundu language as First Language (L1)”, “Anthroponymy in the Nganguela language”, and “The Umbundu language anthroponym”, as well as “Aspects of the morphology and syntax of Olutyipungu”, “The Portuguese language spoken in Cabinda: professional implications in the local Public Television TPA”, “Study of the toponymy of the municipality of Saurimo”, “Production of consonant segments of Portuguese language by Khun (Khoisan) speakers” and a summary and methodologies of linguistics topics.
The World Mother Language Day, established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999, is celebrated annually on February 21st and this year the motto was “Many Languages, One Nation, Let's Build the Future”.
