Cape Verde: Teaching Mother Tongue to Break Class Barriers
ASSOMADA, Cape Verde — For many in Cape Verde, the language of the classroom is not the language of the heart, and according to researcher Luís Rodrigues, this linguistic divide is entrenching social inequality. In his new book, “Pobre não fala português” (The Poor Don’t Speak Portuguese), the University of Santiago professor argues that the country must standardize and officially teach the Cape Verdean language—Kriolu—to bridge a deepening class chasm.
The book’s provocative title stems from a 16-year-old student’s candid response during an interview. To the teenager, Portuguese is a “prestige” language reserved for the elite and those seeking high-paying jobs, while the Cape Verdean mother tongue remains the heartbeat of daily life for the majority of the population.
A Mismatch in Policy and Reality
“The management of these two languages has been marked by a mismatch between laws, official policies, and what is actually lived in schools and society,” Rodrigues told Lusa. While Portuguese is the only official language recognized by the constitution and the primary medium of instruction, Kriolu is what students use to “think, dream, love, and feel.”
Currently, the inclusion of the Cape Verdean language in the curriculum is minimal, limited to an optional subject in the 10th grade and a few pilot programs. Rodrigues argues that teaching the mother tongue alongside Portuguese from the earliest years is not just a cultural necessity, but an economic one.
“Supporting the Portuguese language while letting the mother tongue drop in education is actually more expensive,” Rodrigues explained. “It increases the cost of teacher training and student support, and results in social inhibition for those who don’t master the prestige language.”
The Myth of Competition
The researcher dismisses fears that elevating Cape Verdean would undermine Portuguese. Instead, he sees a bilingual approach as a way to grant all citizens equal opportunity. He points to other African nations with far more complex linguistic landscapes that successfully integrated mother tongues into their school systems in under five years.
“What we truly need is political will,” Rodrigues said, noting that the country still carries a “debt” to its language 51 years after independence. With millions of Cape Verdean descendants living abroad, he noted that speaking the language is increasingly valuable in the diaspora for healthcare and social services in Europe and the United States.
Standardization from the Bottom Up
One of the greatest hurdles to officializing the language is the lack of a standardized writing system. While the government recognizes an alphabet known as Alupec, most people write phonetically or use spellings influenced by Portuguese.
Rodrigues suggests that instead of imposing a rigid system from the top down, the government should conduct a survey of how people actually write on social media and in daily life. “It shouldn’t be something imposed; it should be born from the foundations that already exist,” he said.
As a new government takes office, Rodrigues remains hopeful that the “clash of wills” between politicians and the public will finally resolve in favor of the language spoken by millions. “More than just officialization in the constitution,” he concluded, “it is the actual measures taken to elevate the status of the Cape Verdean language that matter.”
Image: Pexels – damien Saillet
