Photo credit: Nick Bishop
As a teacher and a volunteer I’m learning quite a lot about the Education system in Tanzania. Primary schooling is done entirely in Swahili with English as a subject. However, secondary school is done entirely in English with Swahili as a subject. Multiple problems arise: the kids don’t know enough English to study other subjects in this foreign language, the kids don’t understand the teachers when the teachers speak English. Additionally, many teachers just teach the subjects in Swahili. This might not be such a problem if education in Tanzania wasn’t nationalized – but it is – thus all examinations are in English as well.
What I’ve seen is that kids don’t really understand English. They repeat letters and sounds and words but there is a block in terms of actual comprehension, even at the secondary school level. The teachers don’t make a lot of money and lack the resources and community support to change the education system.
I’m not sure of a perfect solution, but I find switching the main language from Swahili to English at the secondary school level (kids are 10 by this time) to be extremely problematic. Something should change – it’s a policy question – but how it should change, I’m not sure yet.
As a teacher and a volunteer I’m learning quite a lot about the Education system in Tanzania. Primary schooling is done entirely in Swahili with English as a subject. However, secondary school is done entirely in English with Swahili as a subject. Multiple problems arise: the kids don’t know enough English to study other subjects in this foreign language, the kids don’t understand the teachers when the teachers speak English. Additionally, many teachers just teach the subjects in Swahili. This might not be such a problem if education in Tanzania wasn’t nationalized – but it is – thus all examinations are in English as well.
What I’ve seen is that kids don’t really understand English. They repeat letters and sounds and words but there is a block in terms of actual comprehension, even at the secondary school level. The teachers don’t make a lot of money and lack the resources and community support to change the education system.
I’m not sure of a perfect solution, but I find switching the main language from Swahili to English at the secondary school level (kids are 10 by this time) to be extremely problematic. Something should change – it’s a policy question – but how it should change, I’m not sure yet.
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