[lg policy] Tanzania Drops English for Kiswahili

[Harold Schiffman]

Tanzania Drops English for Kiswahili
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[image: 497614547]
<http://languagemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/497614547.jpg>Since
Tanzania’s independence from Britain in 1961, public education has been
bilingual, beginning with Kiswahili – known as Swahili in the West – in
elementary school, and switching to English from high school to university.
President Jakaya Kikwete and his administration have launched new education
guidelines that will make only Kiswahili the language of instruction from
primary school to university level.

English classes will still be available as foreign language credit, but the
main language of instruction will be Kiswahili, making Tanzania the first
sub-Saharan African country to conduct education on a national scale in an
African language. Atetaulwa Ngatara, the assistant director for policy at
the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, commented, “To think
that learning in English will lead to students communicating in English is
wrong. Communicating in English is something else, which has to do with
language studies.”

Some regard this as a bold assertion of cultural self-affirmation. Although
Tanzania is home to over 130 languages and cultures, Kiswahili emerged from
various ethnic conflicts as a uniting force and a means by which the
country has created a collective identity. However, in addition to cultural
identity, the new guidelines hold practical implications for education
reform. Kikwete hopes to bring some clarity to a bilingual system that has
left students confused and not necessarily proficient in either language.
The policy aims to provide consistency in text and reference books
throughout both public and private schools. “It’s impossible that every
school uses its own reference book when the final examinations are the
same,” said President Kikwete, “How do we expect students to pass in these
conditions?”

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