In Africa, a colonial history has hampered education development, as most children are taught in a language they do not speak at home. This slows early acquisition of reading and writing proficiency or can even prevent it outright. There are also negative links to the development of children’s social-emotional skills, including their sense of self-worth […] The post The use of home language for instruction should be prioritized in Africa – it is a foundation for learning appeared first on World Education Blog.
In Africa, a colonial history has hampered education development, as most children are taught in a language they do not speak at home. This slows early acquisition of reading and writing proficiency or can even prevent it outright. There are also negative links to the development of children’s social-emotional skills, including their sense of self-worth and belonging.
In 11 African countries with Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data, for example, only 30% of primary school students, on average, reported being taught in the language they spoke at home. There were huge differences between countries. In Sao Tome and Principe, all students spoke Portuguese at home. In anglophone southern African countries, such as Malawi and Zimbabwe, the majority of students are taught in their home language in lower primary grades, but the minority of students are taught in their home language in upper primary grades. In mainly francophone western African countries, hardly any student speaks French at home, a finding also confirmed by the PASEC learning assessment.
In Guinea-Bissau, where Portuguese is the only official language of instruction, the proportion of children learning in their home language decreases from 20% in grade 1 to 6% in grade 5. Some teachers reported difficulties in teaching in Portuguese, leading them to use home languages to facilitate student understanding. In other words, even in the absence of a policy to use home languages, teachers may be forced to adapt instruction to student needs.
The majority of countries in Africa have bilingual or multilingual education policies
The GEM Report team mapped African countries’ language of instruction policies in the 2024 report, Learning counts, the second in the Spotlight series in partnership with ADEA and the African Union. The mapping found that 31 of 55 countries have adopted bilingual or multilingual education policies. Of those, 23 countries shift to the second language before grade 5. Some 80% of all countries with bilingual or multilingual education policies indicate that the local languages should later be kept as subjects.
In Niger and Uganda, for example, local languages are used up to grade 3, but teaching then transitions to French and English, respectively, in grade 4. In South Africa, our country report found that 11 languages are used up to grade 3, but only Afrikaans and English are used until grade 12. In the Gambia, a background paper written by Barbara Trudell for the Spotlight report showed that the government committed to introduce all Gambian languages as mediums of instruction also only up to grade 4.
In Mozambique, meanwhile, bilingual education was expanded to 25% of schools with a new teacher training curriculum. Children learning in schools benefiting from a bilingual education curriculum are performing 15% higher in basic reading and mathematics.
Policy vs. practice
While the mapping showed the policies that exist, in practice, the reality is that implementation is weak for various reasons.
Teacher training is required to build capacity in using languages of instruction other than the main one. In Mauritania, the Spotlight country report shows that the 1999 language policy advocated the use of Arabic for literary subjects and the use of French from grade 2 for scientific subjects – but that policy was hindered by insufficient teacher training leading. The 2022 education law introduces teaching in Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof at all levels from 2027 onwards. This reform will require substantial teacher training and effective management and deployment of the teaching force.
Language policy implementation is much harder if textbooks and teaching materials are not available in these languages. In countries with high linguistic diversity, such as Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and South Sudan, textbooks for primary grades have only been developed in a few of the official languages of instruction. In Mauritania, implementing the 2022 reform may also stumble on the production and distribution of teaching materials in the four languages, especially for Pulaar, whose writing is not even codified.
Even when textbooks have been developed, they might not be available to children and teachers. In Zambia, results from the 2015 Early Grade Reading Assessment and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment showed that 80% of students did not have a textbook in the language of instruction. In Uganda, less than half of classrooms observed during the fieldwork had materials in the language of instruction. This leaves teachers having to translate learning materials into local languages for early grades, adding a burden to their teaching duties.
The 2024 Spotlight report, which focuses on numeracy skills, showed that language also matters in mathematics. In the focus countries, all mathematics textbooks were in English or French. Textbooks with mainly text-based explanations may be of limited value. Graphic explanations, as well as worked examples, are needed that are language-friendly and easy to understand.
All these obstacles make it difficult to implement their language of instruction policies in the first place, while those countries that do manage to partially roll them out struggle to ensure the transition from one language to another takes place as planned. Transitioning requires guidance for schools and teachers, yet the research for the Spotlight country report on Uganda, for instance, found such guidance to be absent. Hence why, as shown earlier, transition starts earlier than intended in many countries. In Lesotho, the official language of instruction is Sotho in grades 1 to 4, but the drop in the use of Sotho begins already in grade 2.
The way forward
Our recommendation in both the 2022 and 2024 Spotlight Reports on foundational literacy and numeracy in Africa has been to teach all children in their home language – and train teachers accordingly. Given the way different linguistic groups are distributed in most African countries, this is clearly not possible for all children. But the intention should be.
The use of a child’s first or home language for up to six or eight years, alongside the introduction of a second one, initially as a subject and later as a parallel medium of instruction, is widely considered the most effective policy. Such a policy would improve outcomes not only in the home language but also in the second language and other subjects. Progressive development of two languages of instruction over a prolonged period is preferable to models that simply remove home language and replace it with an official language.
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