Tanzania to ditch English as medium of instruction in public schools.

The brazen new policy will see Kiswahili become the new lingua franca in Tanzania schools, discarding English as medium of instruction.

The changes were launched by President Jakaya Kikwete on Saturday and include:

1. Extending basic education from seven years to eleven
2. Abolishing national examinations for primary school leavers
3. Free education at primary and secondary levels
4. Kiswahili to replace English as medium of instruction

According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Prof Sifuni Mchome, the new education system will incorporate vocational education in the basic education syllabus so that students who do not make it to Form Five have skills to contribute to the development of the country.

But extensive preparations will have to be implemented before the language change takes effect, meaning it could be decades before Kiswahili is fully established in schools.

“It’s our hope that when students complete this basic education, which is compulsory up to Form 4,” Prof Mchome said, “they will be at an age ready to contribute to the country’s development.”

 Unlike the current policy, which focuses on filtering and rejecting students without skills through final exams, according to Prof Mchome, the new one raises the number of educated Tanzanians with skills.

“We need a critical mass of skilled labour for the country’s development,” he explained,  “but you can’t get it through the current traditional system, which only filters and children go back home after failing Standard Seven final exams.”

Mr Kikwete declared it a significant day in the history of the education sector and said the new policy was a must so the country could proceed in line with global economic and technological changes.

The President assured the public that the new direction would take Tanzania to the next level, where the nation will have skilled people with both practical and theoretical knowledge.

[Source]