The introduction of Kiswahili as a medium of instruction in Tanzanian secondary schools: a diagnostic and evaluative study

At present, the medium of instruction in Tanzanian primary schools is Kiswahili but in secondary schools and other institutions of higher learning, the medium of instruction is English. It seems that when pupils enter secondary schools, they experience language problems resulting with the change from Kiswahili to English medium of learning. The purposes of this study are to survey Tanzania language policies since colonial period and to investigate the situation of Kiswahili teaching materials for various subjects in Tanzanian secondary schools. Other purposes include investigating the causes of the delay in introducing Kiswahili as a medium of learning in secondary schools and also finding out attitudes of students, teachers and other educators towards the use of Kiswahili as a medium of instruction in secondary schools in Tanzania. While Kiswahili borrowed words from foreign languages such as Portuguese and Arabic, it has remained fundamentally and structurally a Bantu language. During the colonial period, this language was promoted by the Germans both in administration and education. On the other hand, it seemed that the British language was relatively higher than that of Kiswahili. This seemed to have suppressed the potentials of Kiswahili to develop in that period. It is becoming clear to African educators and politicians that language and culture are intimately related. If African culture is to be protected and developed, a native language should be encouraged in all activities. This school of though led the Tanzanian Government to promote Kiswahili after independence. Thus, in 1963, members of Parliament were allowed to speak either in Kiswahili or English. In 1967, a directive was issued from the second Vice President requesting Ministries, District Councils, Co-operative Unions and parastatal organisations to use Kiswahili in their day to day business. In education, Kiswahili has also been promoted. For example, in 1967, Kiswahili became the medium of instruction in primary schools. Currently, the language is used as a medium of instruction at colleges of National education for Grade A and C courses. As it has earlier been stated, English is still the medium of instruction in secondary schools. This is due to the shortage of Kiswahili teaching materials for use in various subjects and the presence of a good number of non Kiswahili-speaking teachers in the case of Science subjects. Nevertheless, there is no data on the magnitude of these practical problems and attitudes of school population towards the use of Kiswahili as a medium of instruction. The data for the present study was collected through questionnaire, interview, documentary sources and observation of classroom language behaviour of teachers and students. The interviews were held with teachers and officials dealing with Kiswahili language in the country. The students responding to the questionnaire were from Form Two, Four and Six. A total of 625 students and 92 teachers responded to the questionnaire. The questionnaire had four categories of statements. Category 1 includes statements 1-7 dealing with teachers’ medium of instruction. Category 2 consists of statements 8-14 dealing with teachers’ and students’ opinions about the ability of secondary school teachers to use Kiswahili as a medium so instruction. Category 3 includes statements 15-20 dealing with teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the importance of English as a language and as a medium of instruction. Finally, category 4 consists of statements dealing with teachers’ and students’ evaluation of Kiswahili as a national language. The results indicate that teachers are more positive minded than students regarding the introduction of Kiswahili as a medium of instruction in secondary schools. Also, the findings show that while some respondents favour the introduction of Kiswahili as a language for teaching, others seem to have reservations on its implementation in higher levels or schooling and in science subjects in particular. However, it is argued that this pattern of results I due to the shortage of Kiswahili written teaching materials and the presence of a good number of non speaking Kiswahili Science teachers. In addition, the results indicate that girls are slightly more in favour of English medium than boys. This may be due to the type of jobs they traditionally aspire for. It is concluded that Kiswahili, as a medium of instruction is quite possible provided that the Ministry of National Education takes the necessary measures such as the preparation of teachers and teaching materials.