[EDU] Africa: Multilingual Education Pays Off
AfricaFocus Bulletin | Jul 20, 2010 | Reposted from sources cited below
Editor's Note
"Africa is the only continent where the majority of children start
school using a foreign language. Across Africa the idea persists
that the international languages of wider communication (Arabic,
English, French, Portuguese and Spanish) are the only means for
upward economic mobility. .. [But] New research findings are
increasingly pointing to the negative consequences of these
policies ... We recommend that policy and practice in Africa
nurture multilingualism; primarily a mother-tongue-based one with
an appropriate and required space for international languages of
wider communication." - Adama Ouane, Director, UNESCO Institute for
Lifelong Learning.
In a new report released in June 2010, researchers from UNESCO and
the Association for the Development of Education in Africa
challenge the common assumptions in many African countries that
mother-language instruction as impractical or counter-productive.
To the contrary, a review of recent research and practice
indicates, multilingual education including mother-language
instruction into later years of schooling as well as an
international language, produces better results than an early
transition to exclusive use of the international language.
Multilingualism, the authors contend, is an asset that Africa must
foster for practical reasons as well as reasons of cultural pride.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the introduction and excerpts
from the first sections of this advocacy brief. The full 76-page
document, well-designed and illustrated with Adinkra symbols and
African scripts, is available on the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong
Learning website ( unesco.org )
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on education in Africa, visit
africafocus.org
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