[lg policy] African Schools Weigh Teaching in Local Languages

Fri Dec 8 15:44:37 UTC 2017

 African Schools Weigh Teaching in Local Languages
December 07, 2017 2:45 PM

   - Sofia Christensen <https://www.voanews.com/author/26663.html>

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[image: FILE - Students from CEM Serigne Bassirou Mbacke school are seen in
a classroom in Kaolack, Senegal, May 19, 2017. (R. Shryock/VOA)]
FILE - Students from CEM Serigne Bassirou Mbacke school are seen in a
classroom in Kaolack, Senegal, May 19, 2017. (R. Shryock/VOA)
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   Schools Weigh Teaching in Local Languages>
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DAKAR, SENEGAL —

Most children in sub-Saharan Africa are taught in a common colonial
language instead of their mother tongue. Proponents say teaching in an
international language is advantageous, but others argue that this can
confuse children and affect learning. Some want local languages integrated
into the standard French curriculum.

In Alieu Samb primary school, in a working-class section of Dakar,
second-graders are learning to read, in French.

Like most children in sub-Saharan Africa, they are taught in their
country’s common colonial language rather than in their mother tongue.

Linguistics professor Mbacke Diagne of Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University
wants to integrate local languages into the standard teaching curriculum.

He says most children entering primary school in Senegal have been
functioning in Wolof for at least seven years beforehand.

“They have structured their world in this language,” he says, “but as soon
as they get to school, all this knowledge is set aside in order to impose
French.”

Diagne and others believe this slows the learning process and can
discourage children from pursuing education.

According to Education Policy and Data Center statistics, Senegal’s youth
literacy rate is lower than the average for other lower middle income
countries, and more than half of secondary school-age children are out of
school.

Organizations such as the Associates in Research and Education for
Development have been piloting bilingual teaching programs in Senegalese
primary schools. Awa Ka Dia is the ARED Program Director.

She explains that children start simultaneously learning French and
building literacy skills in either Wolof or Pulaar, which are later used as
a base to read in French.

ARED currently operates in 98 primary schools spread between Dakar, the
northern city of Saint-Louis, and the town of Kaolack. The pilot program
ends this year, and Dia hopes results will encourage the government to fund
an extended version, covering more regions and incorporating other local
languages.
[image: FILE - Students cross the street outside the Yavuz Selim school in
Dakar, Senegal, Oct. 2, 2017.]
FILE - Students cross the street outside the Yavuz Selim school in Dakar,
Senegal, Oct. 2, 2017.

*Mixed feelings*

But in Alieu Samb school, headmaster Meissa Dieng has mixed feeling about
teaching in Wolof.

“Speaking French in school will allow children to really master the
language,” he says, “but then there is the psychological impact of
deconstructing a thinking process that has already been established.”

And parents are often the first to oppose the idea.

Literacy and education expert Chris Darby is with SIL, a nonprofit serving
language communities around the world. He says for six years he struggled
with community resistance to a multi-lingual education project in rural
Senegal.

“A lot of the resistance comes from parents, as well as teachers, and right
up the hierarchy. But parents are very keen, I think, for children to
succeed. And they tend to think of success, as far as what a school can do,
in terms of delivering an international language,” Darby said.

Other countries also are delving into local languages. In 2014, the
Ethiopian government and USAID launched a reading curriculum in seven
Ethiopian languages to improve reading skills. And in 2015, Tanzania
introduced a policy to remove English as a medium of instruction and teach
entirely in Kiswahili.

But for Barbara Trudell, director of Research and Advocacy for SIL Africa,
favoring local languages in a multi-lingual context can be complicated.

“As soon as you move from an international language down into an African
national language, choosing one over the other, the rivalries are instantly
there. At least that is the thing about French, English, Portuguese,
they’re sort of seen to be on a different level,” Trudell said.

In Senegal, Wolof is spoken by more than 80 percent of the population, but
there are more than 20 national languages recognized by the government.

In this context, this may be the greatest challenge to teaching in local
languages.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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