A Swengwer/English/Swahili dictionary has been launched to spice up learning in schools and enrich the Sengwer culture, especially now that vernacular has been re-introduced in schools under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Teaching of vernacular allows learners to communicate new ideas enthusiastically, ask questions effectively and even offer answers to a variety of questions.
Speaking during the launch of the dictionary, the publisher, who is a Professor at Edinburgh University Fredrico Falleti, stressed the need to embrace the CBC, which according to him would transform all sectors of the economy in the near future.
He, however, took issue with the nature of the Sengwer community, whose culture has been scattered across Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties.
Through his study, he noted that the Sengwer culture was disappearing rapidly in favour of majority tribes.
“This is indeed what made me come all the way from Italy to save important aspect of the Sengwer culture from distortion,” he said.
The professor added that the Sengwer is a non-recognized Kalenjin language within the Southern Nilotic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family having no political or academic recognition, and added that its population ranges from 20,000 to 50,000.
Semantically, it’s a dialect of the Marakwet sub-tribe of the Kalenjin ethnic group.
Falleti encouraged teachers and parents to embrace the Ministry of Education (MoE)’s policy of teaching Mother Tongue since the Sengwer Trilingual Dictionary is a rudimentary source with all the sounds that can be used to address spiritual, moral and medical disciplines.
By Hillary Muhalya
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