[lg policy] South Sudan: Those With Degrees in Arabic Language Should Take English Course, It Is Easy

[Harold Schiffman]

South Sudan: Those With Degrees in Arabic Language Should Take English
Course, It Is Easy
19 FEBRUARY 2012
It is not a surprise for South Sudan nation to face the challenge of
Arabic as one of the fallouts from the independence struggle of the
people of this new nation for over fifty years. Before the old Sudan
became independent in January 1956, the language of communication and
for work in government and private offices was English which was also
the medium of instruction in schools.

Baht Er Ruda Institute of Education became the centre where English
teaching was enhanced and it was where teachers for intermediate and
elementary schools were trained in English so that they could use it
properly in schools. J.A. Bright, the principal of the institute and
specialist in English language and writer of its teacher's hand books
became a name not only in Sudan but in East Africa as well. When the
British folded the Union Jack and returned to England it did not take
long for the Arabs to introduce Arabic as a medium of instruction in
all levels of education in the northern provinces.

For South Sudan since the education system was in the hands of the
Christian missionaries, it was only in 1957 that the government
through the office of the director of education for southern
provinces, Sir El Khatim El Khalifa that Arabic was introduced as a
lesson while English remained the main medium of instruction at
elementary, intermediate and secondary levels. Following the
revolution of Ibrahim Abboud on 17th November 1958, Arabic was
introduced in South Sudan at mahad intermediate schools which were for
Islamic studies whose students were Muslims and some Christians.

Evening classes for adults were begun in 1960 in Arabic. Some
elementary schools in towns like Juba, Malakal Wau, Maridi, Renk and
Torit, were made to use Arabic to supply the intermediate schools like
Juba One Intermediate School run exclusively in Arabic as its medium
of instruction. Abboud's policies were to Arabicize and Islamize the
people in South Sudan. But because there was limitation in government
capacity to introduce Arabic as a uniform medium of instruction in all
levels of education: elementary, intermediate and secondary, the use
of Arabic was sporadic and uneven in the then three southern provinces
of Upper Nile, Bahr El Ghazal and Equatoria.

It was during the era of Nimeiri that an attempt was made to run all
schools in South Sudan in Arabic. This was because there was a running
civil war being fought by the Anya-Nya and the schools in the rural
areas have been closed. During the era of El Bashir schools in the
towns under government control were also operated in Arabic as a
medium of instruction. When South Sudanese were as a government policy
systematically relocated to North Sudan in 1990s where they became
IDPs, their children were automatically made to attend schools in
Arabic. In South Sudan, Arabic was even introduced and used as the
official language for government work in offices in late 1960s and
after dissolution of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1990s.

Today there is a big number of South Sudanese children who had
attended education some to university level in Arabic. Having given
the background of usage of Arabic language it is not surprising that
there is some murmuring in the universities of South Sudan about the
residue of Arabic language from the previous use. Since Arabic
language is scaled out from the use of the government of South Sudan
as a measure to totally disengage with the North, the language policy
planners should have known that millions of South Sudanese who belong
to over 71 tribes will be keeping the language for communication among
themselves since we don't have an alternative language such as
Kiswahili used in East Africa and Lingala used in Congo.

So a language policy for the use of Arabic at a certain degree not as
the language of the colonialists who had oppressed us but as a
convenient means of communication among our diverse people who do not
have a common linguae franca besides English which is the language of
the elite and of the government enshrined in the Transitional
Constitution of 2011. Since the literacy rate in South Sudan is about
16% which means that the number of people who speak English is low,
before English can take the level of Nigeria or Ghana where Creole, a
pidgin type of English can be used in place of Arabic in South Sudan,
the Juba Arabic can be used instead of that of the jallaba.

As for those with degrees in Arabic they should get into courses and
within six months they will be experts in English language. It takes
four months to learn German in order to join a German university. So
those who had learned in Arabic should not make life difficult in
South Sudan for themselves and pick up English courses straightaway.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202201578.html

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