The politics of mother tongue education: the case of Uganda

This paper aims to explain the trend of mother tongue (MT) education in Uganda by examining particularly the government’s practices towards MT education. Because of disappointing levels of literacy attained by learners, MT education was (re)introduced in Uganda in 2006/2007 with the hope of improving literacy skills particularly among rural children. Based on data gathered from rural schools (both government and private), this paper questions what exactly it is that government seeks to reclaim, restore and/or rejuvenate in Uganda’s education system via MT education.