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== Language Policy in Education in Tanzania ==

Background
Tanzania is a country located on the east-coast of Africa, made up of mainland Tanganyika and the Zanzibar Archipelago. Tanzania is a multilingual country, where over 120 languages are spoken within its borders. Kiswahili, or Swahili is the proclaimed national language of East Africa, where it is spoken in Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and also Uganda. Due to Tanzania’s extreme multilingual variety, Kiswahili has become widely accepted as the pre-eminent indigenous language of the area. Swahili has been used along the Zanzibar and Tanzania trade routes for centuries. Kiswahili is a Bantu language, one of hundreds spoken across southern and East-Africa. The language takes influences from other Tanzanian local languages and also from Arabic. The largest contribution to Kiswahili comes from Arabic, due to the importance of Zanzibar and Tanzania for Arabic trade. Although Tanzania has adopted Kiswahili as its national language, it is often learnt second to their indigenous community language. Around 90 per cent of people learn Swahili as their second language, and use their mother tongue at home and in their communities. During the course of Tanzania’s history, there have been external actors who have influenced the language policy, which has determined the appropriate medium of language for education. In each stage of change, accordingly the language in education policy has been transformed to fit the needs of the power in charge. Tanzania has been under the control of both German and British colonisation before it became independent in 1961. Although Tanzania remains one of the few countries that has extended their indigenous national language, Kiswahili, past primary-school level, English has remained the main language of instruction for secondary and higher education. Despite the use of English as a medium of language for higher level education, only 5 percent of the Tanzanian population speak English and those who speak English are from a more privileged background.

Pre-colonial Education
Before colonization, Tanzania had not yet established a national schooling system. Each community held the responsibility to educate their children, using their community language. This meant that education was different for each tribe, depending on their environment and cultural traditions. As each tribe taught their children themselves, education was seen as a way for the children to learn about their society. Education was not separated from other areas of so it has a close relation with the life of the individual. The language of instruction was drawn from the local environment as well as other resources. Learning resources were very practical as children would learn on the farm and at home the skills of their community and what was expected from them by the other members of society. Such methods of learning intended to pass down knowledge of their elders and to retain the structure of indigenous society. Another important element of pre-colonial schooling was oral storytelling. It was seen as a way to share vital sources of knowledge and wisdom, and also as a way to include culturally relevant ideas into learning. Some of the themes within stories told within pre-colonial indigenous teaching included: respect, self-reliance, solidarity, struggle, and persistence.

Quranic Schools
Quranic schools had been set up since the start of the 8th century. The schools were set up across Tanzania to allow Muslims to learn Arabic and the teachings of the Koran. In these schools, being educated was based on students' ability to recite the scriptures written within the Koran and to write in Arabic. For muslims, they were taught through the medium of Arabic alongside knowledge of their community language. Islamic influence was not extensive in the pre-colonial era which enabled co-existence between the traditional societies and activities of African communities and the implementation of Islam through mastery of Arabic.

European Missionary Schools
Before western colonisation missionaries had introduced formal education in Tanzania in 1868. The missionaries were interested in expanding literacy for their evangelical purposes(Van Bergen,1981). The schooling provided by missionaries was seen as an additive to traditional tribal education. Missionaries aimed to promote conversion to Christianity, whilst constraining the spread of Islam through Tanzania. Missionaries often used Swahili as a medium of language to spread their message. Swahili pre-colonisation was beginning to spread due to the development of trade, particularly the ivory trade from Zanzibar. From the 19th century, Swahili began to spread into mainland Tanzania and other parts of East Africa.

During colonisation
Between 1886 and 1961, Tanzania was colonized by the Germany followed by the Britain. Under European colonial rule, the Roman alphabet was implemented for written Kiswahili. The use of Kiswahili was formally adopted as a language of instruction in education during this period. It was the choice of the colonial authorities to determine the influence of Kiswahili during their periods of rule.

The German Rule(1884-1919)
The German occupation of Tanzania commenced in 1884. During their first interactions, it was discovered that Swahili was widely used in the majority of the country. Due to its widespread understanding the Germans promoted Kiswahili to a high extent, which was convenient for their administration. It was also understood that Tanzanian civilians were unable to learn German so did not teach it. Also, the Germans relied heavily on the coastal Swahili-speaking population for administration within the colony, causing the increased spreads of Kiswahili thought the colony. .The Germans assigned Kiswahili as the medium of instruction through all levels of education during their period of rule, however it remained the case that very few Tanzanias had access to schooling. It was also made the language of administration through the colony. It has been disputed that the implementation of Kiswahili as the language of instruction acted as a barrier for Tanzanian civilians to achieve higher level jobs within the German administration. During this period, the provision of schooling was the joint responsibility of missionaries and the German government. Missionaries in general focused on learning tribal languages in Tanzania. In many cases, they believed that Christianity would spread faster by using peoples community languages, rather than Swahili as a medium of instruction. The German Movarian missionaries who operated during the period of German rule often discovered that Kiswahili was now useful for the spread of religious thought particularly in localised regions. For the Germans, the adoption of one language greatly strengthened their administration. German rule considerably improved and spread the use of Kiswahili all across the country. Following Germany’s defeat in the First World War in 1919, Germany’s education policies were transformed.

The British Rule(1920-1961)
In 1920, Tanzania was officially handed over as mandated territory to Britain under the conditions of the League of Nations. English was first introduced as a colonial language in Tanzania when Britain took over from Germany after the First World War. Britain decided to use English as the medium of instruction for administration. Since swahili was already well established in local seeing, it was they continued using it as the medium of local administration. From 1919, Kiswahili was maintained as the language of instruction for the first four years of primary schools for Tanzanian children. After the fourth year of primary education there was a transition to English as the medium of instruction, which was continued throughout all levels of education. This meant that English became the sole medium of instruction for secondary and higher level education. English was also provided as a subject from the third year of primary school to introduce children to English and to prepare the children for the switch in language of instruction. English was highly valued in society, as it was seen as the prerequisite for formal education at higher levels and the facilitator of well-paid jobs. With the implementation of Kiswahili and English by the British in education, local language use became limited within education. The British also determined the medium of education based on racial divisions. Known as the tripartite system, Europeans,Asians and Africans were separated in the school system. For Asians and Europeans, English was used as the sole medium of instruction through all levels of schooling. The schooling system implemented was very unequal during British rule. The African schools were given the smallest budget for education. In 1946, total expenditure on education was 2 percent for 105,050 Africans, and 10 percent for only 792 European students. In 1930, the British established an inter-territorial committee with the aim of promoting the standardisation and modernisation of Swahili. This process was mainly conducted by expatriates, so the standardisation process was seen as done from the outside. Toward the end of British rule in Tanzania, Kiswahili standardisation had been completed and Swahili developed to become a modern African language.

Swahili leading up to independence
Prior to Tanzania’s independence from British rule, the future president of Tanzania, Nyerere proposed that Swahili would become the national language. It was seen as a universally used language within Tanzania given the fact that more than 100 local languages were also spoken. In 1954, TANU (Tanganyika African National Union) was formed to oppose British Rule. Kiswahili was used as an important tool to mobilise the ethnic diversity within Tanzania.

Post-colonisation
Since independence, Tanzania has conducted four main reforms, being the 1967,1979, 1997 and 2005 curriculum reforms. Both English and Swahili have remained the two official languages of instruction in education. The status of Swahili enhanced since 1961, as part of the departure from colonial rule As Swahili was already widely used across Tanzania, it was seen as necessary to promote the language.

Policies for language policy in Education
In 1962, an official policy declared Swahili as the national language. Following the unification of Tanzania and Zanzibar in 1964, there was a strengthened desire to improve education and provide the beliefs and values of the Tanzanian people.

Language Policy under Nyerere 1967-1985
In 1967, Julius Nyerere became the President of Tanzania. He adopted the policy of Ujamaa, which was the country’s brand of socialism and policy. For Nyerere's policy of socialism, the concept of self-reliance was always attached. In 1967, the Arusha Declaration gave rise to the ‘Education for self-reliance policy(ESR). This paved the way for a new form of education based on African values of communalism and was rooted in indigenous forms of education. In a document written by Nyerere in 1967, it was stated that of utmost important was Tanzanian people’s ability to read and write fluently in Swahili. Although there was a basic promotion of English, this was secondary to an individual's ability to be an active member of their community(Nyerere,1967,p.433).As a result of this, in 1967, Swahili was made the sole medium of instruction at primary school level, causing a further enhancement of the language in Tanzania.

In 1969, with the enactment of the Education Act, there was an end of missionary intervention in public education, which meant that the language policy of education would become the responsibility of the state’s alone. In secondary schools and higher education, English remained the medium of instruction. The five year development plan of 1969 proposed the changeover from English to Swahili, so that by 1974 Kiswahili would become the sole medium of instruction from secondary school-level. Following this announcement, developers started to translate terms for school subjects to facilitate the transition towards Swahili.

In 1980, President Nyerere created a presidential commission to review education policies within Tanzania. In 1982, when the report was complete it advised for the changeover from English to Swahili in secondary schools by 1985. Despite hope that there would be a change in the medium of instruction, the ruling party turned down the proposals in an official announcement.

External Pressures
As a result of a food shortage caused by drought in Tanzania, the country capitulated to the IMF, which led to the implementation of new conditions in the educational sphere. This meant that Tanzania became more reliant on the help of external donors, and less able to construct their own policies determining the medium of instruction. In 1987, following Tanzania's submission to the World Bank, The British Overseas Development Agency launched a multi-million dollar project to support the teaching of the English language. This, alongside with the conditions set out within the structural adjustment programmes, consolidated the use of English in higher levels of education. Even though Tanzania enshrined socialism and self-reliance as their founding principles, they had to give up some power to external institutions.

1995 Education and Training Policy
In 1995, Tanzania Released their Education and Training policy. In the document it set out that Kiswahili should be the medium of instruction for primary school education, and that English should remain the medium of instruction at secondary school level. The main reason why English was kept as the medium of instruction for secondary and higher level education was due to the fact that most materials are written in English. The Education and Training policy also encouraged private agencies to increase their provision of education at all levels. This led to the expansion of English medium schools across Tanzania ,where students were obligated to speak English. This has been seen by some as detrimental to the students ability to fully understand the materials taught in school due to their low proficiency in English.

1997 Cultural Policy
The government reiterated their goals of changing the medium of instruction in the 1997 Cultural policy. In this document, the proposal to change the medium of instruction to Kiswahili was put forward. The policy, endorsed by Parliament, also recognised the value of other indidenous languages aside from Swahili, as part of Tanzania's legacy’. For most Tanzanians, Swahili is spoken second to their mother tongue language. Despite the proposals within the 1997 Cultural Policy, Tanzanians did not achieve any changes to the medium of instruction in education.

2005 Competence-based Curriculum
In 2005, Tanzania introduced the competence-based cirriculum(CBC) to secondary school education. This was aimed at facilitating students with increased knowledge and skills applicable to their lives post-education. Although this new program was to be implemented by teachers within secondary schools, it is often noticed that teachers are inadequately trained to implement the changes.

Current Language policy
At present, Swahili continues to be the main language of instruction in primary schools, whereas English has remained the medium of instruction in secondary schools and higher level education. English is increasingly being used as the medium of instruction in pre-primary school and private school education. These schools tend to only be attended by children of the political and business elite within Tanzania. This reflects the elitist nature of English as a medium of instruction in education. Swahili continues to be used as a medium of instruction in primary schools and also in mass media. It is also used as the official language in the government and parliament, as well as the language of communication in daily activities. As a result of English not being used as a medium of instruction in daily life, many students who go to secondary school do not understand English. This has caused an increase in code-switching, where both Swahili and English are spoken to enable better communication in the classroom. Textbooks have only been written in Swahili at primary school level, which means students are only able to access knowledge at a higher level in English. In secondary schools, exit exams are written in English, which by some has been seen as a barrier for Tanzanian students to continue their education further. Government agencies, where many graduates are expected to become employed operate in Swahili, raising the questions of the necessity of English as a medium of instruction.

2014 Education and Training Policy
In 2014, the government proposed a new Education and Training policy. The policy once again instructed that Swahili should become the language of instruction at all levels of education. This switchover to solely Swahili has yet to be achieved in Tanzania. Due to the fixation by the government on the choice of either English or Swahili as the medium of instruction, the multilingualism within Tanzania has not been endorsed by the government in education planning.

Globalisation and Language
Globalisation and Language Globalization has directed the language in education policy within Tanzania. It has been emphasised that due to an increase in communication and trade globally, proficiency in English is a prerequisite for successful integration into the global market. English is understood as a universal language, leading to its promotion. Swahili has been assigned as inferior to English due to its inability to properly express modern scientific and technological terminology. Many parents in Tanzania see English as the only way for their children to succeed and become employed in the formal sector.