Bilingual Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and Practice

BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: POLICIES AND PRACTICES Grace Bunyi & Leila Schroeder ABSTRACT Africa is reputed to be the most complex multilingual part of the world. With over 2,086 indigenous languages, the degree of multilingualism of individual countries ranges from five languages in Lesotho and Swaziland to over 450 in Nigeria (Chumbow, 2013; Ouane, 2003). Some of these languages are spoken by small populations whereas 16 are spoken by large populations across national borders. Consequently, most adult Africans are multilingual in their mother tongue, another indigenous African language and/or a widely spoken language. In addition, people who have gone through school will also speak the official language which is often the language of the former colonizing European power and which is learnt largely only in school contexts. Given this complex linguistic environment, the role that the different languages should play in the national life of the different countries generally, and in education in particular, has attracted policy determination since the advent of Western type education in Africa. In this chapter, we examine the shifts in language in education policies with particular reference to inclusion of African languages in education as we analyse the factors that have contributed to the evolution of the policies and practices. Secondly, we analyse recent and current developments with regard to the inclusion of African languages in national policies, language and materials development and, national language planning to facilitate the teaching of these languages and their use as languages of instruction. Thirdly, we discuss the problems and difficulties that bilingual education policies encounter especially with regard to pedagogical challenges, and conclude the chapter with proposals for successful development and implementation of bilingual policies. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS Bilingual education in Africa is as old as schooling in Africa which came with the introduction of Western type education and colonial languages by European missionaries and colonial governments – British, German (up to end of WW1) French, Belgian, Portuguese and Spanish. Prior to colonisation, only in parts of North, West and East Africa where Islam had been introduced, was literacy in Arabic taught among the Muslim communities (Abdulaziz, 2003). The question of which language(s) are to be taught and which language is to serve as the language of instruction (LoI) at what level has been debated and different language policies have been articulated. Often, the language policies adopted depended on the colonial power’s cultural and political standpoint (Abdulaziz, 2003). The British adopted a separatist stance towards the Africans and a policy of indirect rule through traditional authority systems. Use of African languages was therefore appropriate and encouraged. These languages as LoI in the early classes of primary education was therefore the norm in British colonies such as Ghana, Nigeria, and Malawi. This policy was strengthened by recommendations of education commissions such as the Education Commission for Africa, the Phelps Stokes Commission of 1920-1922 in West Africa and 1924 in East Africa, which advocated the use of African languages as LoI in the early classes Bokamba (1991). The Belgians too in Rwanda and Burundi encouraged the use of African languages as LoI (Abdulaziz, 2003). On the other hand, in Tanzania (then Tanganyika) the Germans used the lingua franca Kiswahili for administration purposes, and thus their language policy favoured use of Kiswahili in education. The French and the Portuguese held assimilationist stances towards the Africans. The French had the objective of teaching the Africans the French language and culture so that those who were successful would become ‘Frenchmen’ and ‘Frenchwomen’. Similarly, the Portuguese held the view that their African colonies were part of metropolitan Portugal and education was offered in Portuguese (Abdulaziz, 2003). The situation, however, was more complex than the preceding paragraphs suggest. The European community in Africa - missionaries, colonial government officials, settlers and business men and women –– had different interests served by different language policies. In the British colonies, interested in proselytization, missionaries preferred literacy development through the mother tongues; colonial government officials were looking for Africans with some knowledge of a lingua franca and or English to serve as junior clerks and interpreters while settlers and business people wanted docile workers [Pennycook (2002) in Lin (2005)] and therefore preferred education in and through the African languages. Consequently, language policies changed frequently, depending on whose interests won the day (see Bunyi 1996 for a discussion on Kenya). In the case of Cameroon in West Africa, French missionaries preferred use of African languages in education whereas the French colonial administration preferred French. According to Echu (2004), to ensure that education was offered only through French, in 1917, the French colonial administration offered a special subsidy to schools that used French as the LoI. This led to the closure in 1922 of 1,800 schools run by the American Presbyterian missionaries, in which Bulu language was used as the LoI. The Portuguese were even more aggressive in discouraging use of African languages. In a 1921 decree, the Portuguese forbade the teaching of other foreign languages and African languages in their colonies - Angola, Guinea, Mozambique and Cape Verde. Subsequently, Portuguese missionaries who used African languages in education were punished (Abdulaziz, 2003). In Somalia, which is linguistically more or less homogeneous, the north was colonised by the British and the south by the Italians. English was used as the language of administration and education in the north. In the south, where access to primary education for the Somalis was extremely limited, Italian was used as the language of administration and as the language of education (Abdulaziz, 2003). Ethiopia was the only African country that did not experience colonisation except for a short period (1935-41) when part of Ethiopia was controlled by the Italians. In this period, policies endorsing use of major Ethiopian languages in education were enacted, and Swedish and American missionaries used Ethiopian languages in primary schools (Benson, Heugh, Bogale & Yohannes, 2012). Side by side with evangelising and teaching literacy, the British and German missionaries were working on African languages developing orthographies, grammars, and dictionaries for the purpose of developing literacy in the languages. In Tanzania, German missionaries wrote Kiswahili grammars and worked on developing other Tanzanian languages. In Central Africa, British missionaries developed African languages such as Chi Bemba in Zambia, Chichewa in Malawi, and Shona and Ndebele in Zimbabwe. However, in French colonies, because the French colonial administration discouraged development of African languages, most of these languages had not acquired orthographies at independence (Abdulaziz, 2003). MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS Bilingual education programmes and policies in sub-Saharan Africa have been shaped by different factors including: search for national identity and integration, the work of the OAU/AU, declarations of meetings and conferences, research and publications, education commissions, and NGOs and donors. Search for national identity and integration Many African countries emerged from colonialism in the 1960s, fragmented due to boundary setting by European powers during the Berlin Conference of December 1884-January 1885 which ignored ethnolinguistic considerations (Abudulaziz, 2003). On attainment of independence, determination of the role of the many languages– European languages, national languages of wider communication and many African languages - had to be made. Except in Tanzania, all newly independent nations chose the language of their former colonizers – English, French, Portuguese or Spanish (in Equatorial Guinea) - as the official language and the language of education. The argument was that the colonial languages were neutral and their use more equitable because they did not belong to any one of the communities that formed the nations. In Tanzania Kiswahili, an African language spoken widely in the country, was chosen as the official language and the LoI in primary schools. However, following the abandonment of socialism and adoption of capitalism from the late 1980s use of English as LoI has increased. Enjoying government sanction, English has become the LoI in private pre-primary and primary education (Swilla, 2009). Contribution of the Organisation of the African Union (OAU) The OAU which became the African Union (AU) in 2002 has consistently emphasised the need to promote African languages especially in education (Matsinhe, 2013). In its 1963 Charter, the OAU included African languages together with English and French, Arabic and Portuguese as the working languages of the organisation and all its institutions. The key landmarks in the OAU’s support for African languages in education include the establishment of the Inter-African Bureau of Languages (OAU-BIL) in 1966 which facilitated the development of the Language Plan of Action for Africa in 1985. The Plan was adopted in a Heads of State meeting in 1986. Although not much was done by way of implementation of the Language Plan of Action and the OAU-BIL closed down in late 1980s, the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) was established in 2006 to provide leadership in development, promotion and use of African languages with a specific objective of promoting multilingualism in education. Further, concerned about the content of the education system in sub-Saharan Africa, the AU launched the Second Decade of Education for Africa 2006-2015 in the 2006 Khartoum Heads of State and Governments of the AU Summit. The Summit underscored the need to strengthen mother tongue education and teacher training (Matsinhe, 2013). Although these efforts of the AU have not borne much fruit in terms of changing policies and practice towards increased use of African languages in education, they have served to keep the issues alive. Continental level meetings and conferences In addition to meetings of African heads of state and governments of the AOU/AU, several other meetings and conferences attended by academics, linguists, government officials UN agencies and other organisations have been held as follows: The UNESCO sponsored Second Festival of African Cultures and Civilization (FESTAC) held in Nigeria in 1977. The colloquium attended by 51 countries and UN organizations recommended the use and teaching of African languages in education institutions, literacy campaigns programs, and in the media. It also encouraged collaboration in teaching and research in African languages; The March 1997 Conference of Ministers on Language Policy in Africa organized in Zimbabwe by UNESCO in collaboration with others. The meeting adopted The Zimbabwe Declaration, urging African Governments to make clear policy statements and develop time-tables for implementation, train language practitioners in the various professions, produce teaching and learning resources, and give value to African languages by rewarding competence in these languages; The First International Conference on African Languages and Literatures held in Asmara in 2000 attended by concerned African academics and scholars of African studies. The conference adopted The Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literature. The Declaration held that African children have the inalienable right to learn in their mother tongue and the need to develop African languages for effective development of science and technology in Africa; The 2005 ADEA Windhoek, Namibia Regional Conference and Experts Meeting on Bilingual Education publications; The 2010 Ouagadougou conference on Integration of African Languages and Cultures into Education; The July 2014 international conference on African Languages and Literatures held at Kenyatta University in Nairobi meant to take stock of “post Asmara 2000’’ and chart the way forward. As with the initiatives of the OAU/AU, recommendations and declarations from these meetings and conferences have helped to keep the discussion alive and thus, perhaps more indirectly than directly, contributed to the evolution of pro African language-in-education policies and practices. Research and publication Research in the use of mother tongues as LoI and in publishing mother tongue materials has yielded positive results. The Six year Primary Project The Six Year Primary Project was carried out in the Ife region in Nigeria in 1970. In the project an experimental group were taught in Yoruba for the first six years of primary school. Experimental group students were also taught English by a specialist teacher of English. A control group of students was taught in Yoruba for the first three years and later in English. Similar content materials were used with both groups of students. Evaluations of the project reported very positive results for the experimental group students. The experimental group students outperformed their colleagues in the control group in all subjects including English (Adegbija, 2003). The study also showed that additional advantages of teaching children in their mother tongue include cultural, emotional, cognitive and psychosocial benefits. Pédagogie convergente or ‘Convergent pedagogy’) in Mali In an effort to address the problems of school drop-out, repetition and poor academic achievement, the Mali government introduced the use of Malian languages officially recognised as national languages as LoI in Grades 1-6 in 1979. In 1987, a new pedagogical approach the Pédagogie convergente or Convergent pedagogy’ was introduced. Twelve out of 40 Malian languages are used for instruction, while French is taught as a second language, focusing on developing functional bilingualism to address transition from the national language to French (Bühmann and Trudell, 2008). Learning achievement assessment reports indicate that: Students in Pédagogie convergente schools perform significantly better in French and mathematics than their counterparts in French-only schools. In addition, Pédagogie convergente students are reported to be enthusiastic, active and communicative (Bühmann and Trudell, 2008, p. 12). Rivers Readers Project Another early experiment in the use of African languages in education was the Rivers Readers Project also implemented in Nigeria in 1970 in the Rivers State. Within the project, initial literacy was taught in about 20 minority languages spoken by small numbers of people. The languages were also used as LoI for all subjects except English for the first two years. An important component of the project involved development of the minority languages and production of literacy materials. The project managed to produce literacy materials such as primers, supplementary readers, teacher’s notes, orthography booklets and dictionaries in 15 of the languages at a very low cost (Adegbija, 2003). The project demonstrated that production of materials in African languages need not be prohibitive. Education Commissions Since the colonial era, and starting with the 1909 United Missionary Conference in Kenya, language policy issues have been addressed through education commissions. In the British colonies, the two Phelps-Stokes Education Commissions, the first to West Africa in 1919 and the second to East Africa 1920 -1922 recommended the use of the learner’s first language in the early years of schooling. In post-independence Kenya, the first education commission (1964) recommended use of English as LoI from first year of school with the mother tongue allocated one lesson per day for story telling activities. This was reversed by the second post-independence commission (1976) which recommended teaching in mother tongues for the first 3 years and switching to English in the fourth year. Subsequent commissions upheld this recommendation (Bunyi, 2001). In Botswana, the first National Commission on Education of 1977 recommended teaching in Setswana up to the fourth year of school and then switching to English. Although the second education commission of 1993 recommended a change to English from the first year, this was not implemented (Albaugh, 2012). In Ghana, the 1967 Education Review Committee recommended use of local languages in the first three years of school. However, this was reversed in 2002. In Senegal, the 1981-1984 National Commission for Education recommended mother tongue education in the first years of schooling. Regime changes and nationalistic programs Changes in political regimes and declarations of nationalistic programs have come with language in education policy changes in several post-independent African countries. In Burkina Faso African languages were introduced in schools following the 1979 revolution. In Burundi, under the Kirundization and Ruralization programme of 1973, Kirundi was made the LoI throughout primary education with French taught as a subject from the third year. In Ethiopia, on overthrowing Haile Selassie in 1974 the socialist party gave all Ethiopian communities the right to use their languages in education (Heugh, Benson, Yohannes, and Bogale (2012). Other examples where changes in regime resulted in language policy change are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia and Togo (Albaugh, 2012). However, unlike in other countries, in Rwanda, linguistic reforms associated with change of regime have focused on change from French, Rwanda’s colonial language to English as the official language with Kinyarwanda. Before the genocide in 1994, the official languages were Kinyarwanda which is spoken by 100% of the population and French. Two years after coming into power, the post genocide government added English as an official language and removed French as one of the official languages in 2008. Between 1996 and 2008, Kinyarwanda was the LoI in the first three years of school and learners could choose to transit into either French or English as LoI classes. The 2008 linguistic reforms made English the only LoI from the first year of school. This drastic change is attributed to several reasons including the current government’s desire to delink itself from France. France accused President Kagame of having a role in the killing of the former president which precipitated the genocide (Steflja, 2012). Contribution of NGOs & Donors Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGOs) and some donors have implemented small scale mother tongue education pilot projects in various countries. In Cameroon, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) working with the University of Yaounde set up the project PROPELCA implemented in private schools in 1980. The PROPELCA project was endorsed by the Cameroonian government for implementation in public schools in 1995 (Echu, 2004). Experimentation with bilingual education in Burkina Faso started with the ‘Ecoles Bilingues’ supported by OSEO, a Swiss NGO, and academics at the University of Ouagadougou in 1994. In 2005, OSEO supported 88 schools in seven languages. Another very small project is the ‘Ecoles Satellites’ program implemented by the Ministry of Basic Education with UNICEF support. In Mozambique the PEBIMO bilingual experiments in Changana and Nyanja languages with World Bank and UN support were implemented from 1993 to 1997. This led to the development of 16 Mozambican languages for use in bilingual education. In 2003, 10 of these were used in schools. Bilingual education increased to cover 17 languages in 75 out of 8,000 schools. Despite the success of these initiatives in their respective countries, they have not been taken up by Ministries of Education. Search for quality and equitable education Impetus for quality education was created by the Education for All (EFA) process starting with the 1990 World Conference on Education for All and the goal of quality education for all by 2015. In a few countries, policies have shifted in favour of African languages as a result. In Zambia, arguing that the case for local languages had been proven beyond doubt, the policy, Focus on Learning (1991), a response to the EFA goal, stated that Zambian languages would be the basic languages of education from grades 1 to 4 (Linehan, 2004). Zambian languages had been dislodged from education by the 1966 Education Act. In a 2003 Ministry of Education document in Cameroon, use of Cameroonian languages as LoI was adopted as a strategy for improving achievement of learning competencies in reading, writing and math (Albaugh, 2012). This followed the successful implementation of the PROPELCA mother tongue as LoI project first in private schools in 1980 and expansion to public schools in 1995. WORK IN PROGRESS The quest for minority language groups’ equal access to education slowly continues. This has taken the form of new national early childhood education policies, experimental pilot programs, and large-scale government mandated Multilingual Education programs. Three language policy themes predominate in Africa –– inclusion of African languages in national policies, materials development for African languages, and language planning at the national level. The status of African languages in national education policies is changing as recently as this year (2014) in Mozambique and Ethiopia. Inclusion of African Languages in National Policies While the colonial languages were a means of communication and commerce, they also “became an identifier of both inclusion and exclusion in the state” (Trudell, 2012, p.2). Most of Africa’s countries have not drastically changed the language policies they inherited from the colonial era, but the exclusive use of the colonial languages is diminishing. The number of African states still using European languages only for education is 11, according to Albaugh (2012, p.1-2). This represents progress from 2004 when it was 15, and 1960 when it was 21 nations using European languages only. Most changes favor African language use in the early years of education, thus giving rural children a chance at inclusion in national education systems. A country which has been moving in this direction since independence is Mozambique. Before independence in 1975, “Metropolitan Portuguese” was the only language of education. This changed slightly after independence, when “Mozambican Portuguese” became the LoI. In the civil war period, the rebels enforced the use of national languages in several zones (Albaugh 2012, p. 46). Now, Portuguese is still the most widely used LoI and the official language. But for 15 language groups, mother tongue use in education is expanding. Each province may choose three Mozambican languages to develop for a bilingual curriculum. In Tete Province, for example, Nyungwe, Nyanja and Sena may be used, with Portuguese introduced as the L2. Another example is Zambia. Zambia’s Permanent Secretary issued a statement in 2013, that Zambian languages would be used as LoI with the English language introduced as a subject at grade 2, although English would continue to be used as LoI from grade 5 to tertiary level. That policy was to be implemented in 2014. To back up the policy statement, Zambia’s Ministry of Education has developed a National Literacy Strategy which is meant to enhance the teaching of initial literacy in Zambian languages in primary schools. That strategy has been followed by development of syllabi and instructional materials for teaching in all seven official Zambian languages. Similar policy changes are happening in South Sudan and Burkina Faso. By 2008, Senegal had authorized experimental bilingual programmes in six of its 38 indigenous languages, though implementation was weak (http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/africasenegal.html). Language and Materials Development No educational language policy can be applied without language development and materials development. The continent’s indigenous languages continue to be analysed, writing systems developed and used, and oral literatures documented. National and international NGOs and universities have contributed to these efforts. Language documentation is foundational to their use in education with online dictionaries, spelling rules and grammatical descriptions enabling pedagogy. Most African languages are still in the “developing” category, category 5 on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, EGIDS. “Developing” indicates that a language doesn’t yet enjoy widespread use for literacy, but its literature is being used by some, and is in vigorous use by the community according to the Ethnologue editor (Lewis, 2014). But the number of languages with “institutional” status (where the language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community) is rising. Some examples from sub-Saharan Africa show progress being made in language development as shown in Table 1 (“Number of living languages” includes all official languages). Despite the magnitude of the challenges. Burkina Faso is one country which is making obvious strides towards development of its African languages (Ouane and Glanz, 2011) and Namibia is another. Namibia launched the Indigenous Language Initiative on 5 December 2014, aiming to standardize orthographies and develop dictionaries and other written materials (Rhodes, 2014). Table 1: Status of Language Development in Selected Countries Country # of living languages Institutional Developing Burkina Faso 69 4 25 Cameroun 280 12 91 Chad 131 11 32 Congo 62 3 16 DRC 212 8 33 Eritrea 15 7 5 Ethiopia 88 30 12 Gambia 12 4 2 Kenya 67 14 31 Mali 66 8 21 Mozambique 43 5 22 Nigeria 522 22 80 Senegal 38 9 13 Sudan 75 9 13 South Sudan 68 25 13 Tanzania 126 3 18 Uganda 41 12 19 National Language Planning There has to be a local will behind the political will and official policies, or implementation of good language policies will fail. The impact of national language planning on use of African languages in education has been dramatic in Tanzania, Eritrea and Ethiopia. With a socialist approach to governance beginning in 1967, a national policy systematically promoted Kiswahili as Tanzania’s official language of administration and education while maintaining English as an official language. Eritrea has declared nine indigenous languages as official languages, developed materials for use in schools, and embarked on an ambitious program of implementation (Walter and Davis, 2005). Another inspiring example of policy implementation is Ethiopia, where strong support starts at the top, and where implementation power is delegated to each of its nine regions. In 1994, the Ministry of Education called for the use of learners’ mother tongues for literacy and learning through the full eight years of primary schooling. Amharic is spoken as a mother tongue by roughly 27% of the population (Heugh, Benson, Bogale and Yohannes, 2012) while an estimated 86 additional languages are spoken as mother tongue by the mostly rural populace (Lewis, 2014). The policy includes the teaching of Amharic from grades 3-5 to students with other L1s. English is introduced as a subject from grade 1, not becoming the LoI until grade 9. The policy is bilingual for L1 speakers of Amharic, and trilingual for speakers of the other languages, with Amharic, English and the L1 as languages of education. Heugh, Benson, Bogale and Yohannes (2012) have remarked: “The number of languages in which MTM [Mother Tongue Medium] education has been developed should cater for up to 84% of students in the school system. This is a remarkable achievement for any country (p.49).” PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES Gaps between national policies and local implementation Only a strong political will can bring the cohesion necessary between the infrastructures which can carry out multilingual education policies. Local initiatives, NGO interventions and university research may all strongly support MLE (Multilingual Education) programs and policies, but without the kind of language planning done in Eritrea and Ethiopia, no lasting changes actually seem to take place. Discontinuity between policy and practice is the norm from Mozambique to Nigeria and the DRC (Orekan, 2010; Trudell, 2012). Educators make choices, either at the provincial level, the district level or even within individual schools, as to whether they will follow national policies. This is especially true in cases where aspects of a policy or practice actually discourage implementation. A case in point is the language of testing. The language of tests determines which languages will be used as LoI (Brock-Utne and Alidou, 2011; Nyaga 2013). In Kenya, where national policy states that mother tongue is the LoI in preschool, and also the LoI through grade 3 except for the subjects “English” and “Kiswahili”, the policy is rarely followed. Impediments to implementation are simple: 1) mother tongue as a subject is the one subject not assessed in national exams, which are only given in English; and 2) content area textbooks are only in English. Development of exams in the mother tongue is permitted but rarely carried out because the local will to develop the tests must also be there. An acute need for language planning also shows itself in teacher postings. In Kenya, teachers are often assigned to schools where their L1 doesn’t match that of the children. In 2013, when one of the authors led training for teaching Maasai reading in grades 1-3, over 10% of the 40 teachers attending did not speak the language. Though they spoke other languages themselves, they had been assigned to early primary classes in the Maasai areas. The same phenomenon of hard-to-implement national policies has been documented in Nigeria (Orekan, 2010 p. 23) and Ghana (Owu-Ewie, 2006, p.76-80). Based upon the successes of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Tanzania, it is obvious that extensive language planning, from the national level to the grassroots, is essential to implementation of multilingual language policies. Pedagogical challenges Pedagogical challenges to successful implementation are often dependent upon policy details at the language planning level. They are also very sensitive to the language attitudes of implementers and language communities. Lack of linguistically appropriate materials A widespread challenge is the need for development of local languages. Orekan (2010, p.24) says of Nigeria: “Implementation of the policy is to be accomplished through the development of indigenous languages, by creating orthographies and dictionaries, and writing of primers and other textbooks.” The same is true for many sub-Saharan nations. Before reading textbooks can be developed, a set of spelling rules must exist, requiring the efforts of linguists and mother tongue speakers. Mother tongue speakers and experts in applied linguistics must work together to produce pedagogical materials which reflect the nature of the language and the culture of a people group (Schroeder, 2013 and Trudell and Schroeder, 2007). This material includes texts to read and to learn different content, as well as dictionaries and examinations. A larger body of written literature, beyond materials designed for formal education, promotes mother tongue literacy for an entire language community (Matsinhe, 2013). Weak or non-existent bilingual education models Certain bilingual education models are now widely established, or proven, as essential to academic success. All of them include these elements: Time to develop decoding and comprehension skills: Children need to spend at least three years, optimally six, reading a language they already speak and understand, developing fluency and the skills they already have orally, in writing (Walter, 2013, p.276). Oral second language teaching: When additional languages not yet known by children are introduced, they should be taught, not via “reading”, but orally and systematically, as a subject, beginning normally around age 7 or 8). By then, their mastery of their first language enables them to add other languages. As part of that instruction, they need a substantial vocabulary in that language, auditory awareness of its phonemes, recognition of the graphemes used in its writing system, and ability to communicate orally via that language (Genesee, Savage, Erdos and Haigh, 2013). This is especially true for English, because there is almost no correspondence between the vowel graphemes of English and those of any African language. Transitional reading instruction can then ease the cognitive leap to English, but transitional reading materials are rare anywhere on the continent. Content area instruction in the language of the child, initially. This maximizes cognitive development and reading ability in their language. Even after transitional reading has been taught for 1-2 years, explanations of difficult, context-reduced concepts should still be supported by the teacher with the first language and focused vocabulary development in the L2. Lack of teacher preparation Another hindrance to successful bilingual education implementation is inadequate teacher preparation. Nyaga (2013, p. 57), referring to Kenya, says that “although a highly multilingual country with 60 different languages and a language-in-education policy that supports the use of children's L1s in the early years of schooling, teacher training colleges do not include multilingual teaching in the curriculum”. A foundational element of training in these colleges should involve advocacy for use of young children’s mother tongues in school and methodologies which reflect the nature of those languages (Schroeder, 2007 and 2013), and inservice training in language-specific use of reading pedagogy. One size does not fit all languages (Schroeder 2013). Teachers’ Language Attitudes Most detrimental of all may be language attitudes of teachers, their language communities (Muthwii, 2010), and policy-makers. The entire continent seems to believe that education, development and knowledge acquisition are directly related to mastery of the former colonial languages (Matsinhe, 2013). Evidence of prioritization of these languages is in classroom “labels” (Nyaga, 2013 and Schroeder, 2007). Examples of this were evident throughout Tharaka District of Kenya in 1998, despite a national policy supporting early primary education in the mother tongue (Schroeder 2007). English ABC charts were used on walls of preschool classrooms. As recently as 2013, the same was evident when one of the authors visited 20 Maasai schools with a mother tongue intervention project underway. Chalkboards were neatly filled with English words and head teachers had posted signs in English, forbidding children to use their mother tongue. Kenya is not unique in seeming to devalue the use of indigenous languages in schools. Senegal’s president recently reversed a longstanding policy allowing use of local languages in education, presumably because its people were not lobbying for this, and Ghana’s public opinion towards its minority languages is even more negative (Albaugh, 2014, p. 121 and 143). FUTURE DIRECTIONS Language in education policy-making is an area that will require serious attention. Except in a few cases, policies in support of African languages have been largely the doing of central state agencies with little participation by local communities and other interested parties. Yet, because of the association of European languages with social and economic power in these countries, such policies have been viewed negatively by both the elite and the non-elite of Africa. To ensure support of these policies, there will be need for policy making to adopt a bottom up approach. A bottom up approach will provide the required space for discussion of a broad range of education issues such as the poor learning outcomes, unequal learning outcomes, repetition and school dropout. It will also provide the required space for education beneficiaries and actors in education to be educated on the benefits of education in African languages. Writing about Mozambique, for example, Chimbutane (2011) reports: Although the general trend in [Mozambique] is to regard Portuguese as the language of access to formal labour markets and associated socio-economic mobility, the introduction of bilingual education is contributing to destabilising this ‘consensus’ by raising community awareness about the actual and potential capital value of African languages. (p. 138) However, it will also be important to clarify that education in African languages does not mean denial of powerful international languages that continue to be associated with upward social mobility in Africa. Education as a route out of poverty continues to be valued in Africa as demonstrated by the expansion in enrolment when the education cost barrier is removed through free primary education programs. Consequently, pilot programs that demonstrate that use of the mother tongues as LoI improves learning and educational success should have a longer duration than is currently the case. Indeed, such programs need to be supported long enough for communities to realize their added advantage and demand similar programs. Language in education policies have continued to be made as if they were stand-alone policies. However, Rizvi and Lingard (2009:4) in Trudell (2012) note: “While policy is synonymous with decisions, an individual decision in isolation does not constitute policy.” Clearly, implementing a change in the LoI requires that policies related to teaching and learning be reviewed. Such policies include those to do with teacher training and deployment, production and use of teaching-learning materials including text books and supplementary materials, testing and examinations, and value assigned to competence in African languages in terms of certification and recognition of such competence in consideration for higher education and selection for employment opportunities. Effective implementation of language policies that expand the use of indigenous languages in education is demanding and requires input from a range of professionals and players –– linguists, language development specialists, parents, community leaders, curriculum developers, materials developers, policy makers, test developers, teacher trainers and managers, and continuing professional development providers. There will be need to ensure that all these actors play their relevant roles in the change process. See also: James W. Tollefson: Language Planning in Education (Volume 1); Jim Cummins: Transfer: Challenging Two Solitudes (Volume 5); Ofelia Garcia and Angel Lin: Translanguaging and BE (Volume 5); Doris Warriner: The Politics of English Language Teaching (Volume 1).  REFERENCES Abdulaziz, M. H. (2003). The history of language policy in Africa with reference to language choice in education. In A. Ouane (Ed.), Towards a multilingual culture of education (pp. 103-112). Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education. Adegbija, E. (2003). Central language issues in literacy and basic education: Three mother-tongue education experiments in Nigeria. In A. Ouane (Ed.), Towards a multilingual culture of education (pp. 67-182). Hamburg: UNESCO Institute of Education. Albaugh, E. (2012). Language policies in African states- Updated January 2012. https://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/e/ealbaugh/pdf/language-policies-in-african-states-albaugh.pdf. Accessed 20 Jul 2014. Albaugh, E. (2014). 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Paper presented at the 35th Annual conference on African linguistics, Mugane J et al (Eds). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. Available via Ohio University, 76-85. Rhodes, F. (2014). Namibia: Indigenous Language Initiative Launched. http://allafrica.com/stories/201412050838.html. Accessed 10 December 2014. Schroeder, L. (2007). Promoting cognitive development in children from minority language groups. International Journal of Learning, 14(7), 179-188. Schroeder, L. (2013). Teaching and assessing independent reading skills in multilingual African countries: Not as simple as ABC. In C. Benson & K. Kosonen (Eds.). Language issues in comparative education: Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and cultures, 247-266. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Steflja, I. (2012). The high costs and consequences of Rwanda’s shift in language policy from French to English. Backgrounder. https://www.academia.edu/1644876/The_Costs_and_Consequences_of_Rwanda Shift_in_Language_Policy. Accessed January 10 2015 Swilla, I.N. (2009). Language of instruction in Tanzania: Contradictions between ideology, policy and implementation. African study monographs, 30(1), 1-14. Trudell, B. & Schroeder, L. (2007). Reading methodologies for African languages: Avoiding linguistic and pedagogical imperialism. Language, Culture and Curriculum 20(3), 165–180. Trudell, B. (2012). Shaped, issued and appropriated: the international, national and local dimensions of language policy in Africa. SIL REAP. Walter, S. & Davis, P. (2005). Eritrea national reading survey. Asmara, Eritrea: Ministry of Education of the State of Eritrea. Walter, S. (2013). Development of reading in multilingual education programs. In C. Benson & K. Kosonen (Eds.). Language issues in comparative education: Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and cultures (pp. 265-281). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. RECOMMENDED READINGS (Leila’s comments) Heugh, K and Skutnabb-Kangas, T (Eds). (2010) Multilingual Education Works.is intensely practical, describing models of multilingual education in use worldwide. Four chapters describe implementation and effectiveness of multilingual education policies and programs in Ethiopia, a chapter on Burkina Faso, and a chapter on the political dynamics of multilingual education in Morocco. The five chapters not specifically dedicated to African countries are worthwhile reading, for comparison and provide a picture of not only what is possible, but provide insight into pitfalls which may be avoided at various stages of planning and implementation. Heugh, K, Skutnabb-Kangas, T, Panda, M, Mohanty, AK, Phillipson, R. (2009). This is a downloadable article on African multilingual education, replete with sections devoted to everything from models in use, teaching practices, students’ success or challenges, formal and non-formal education, cost factors, and a large list of publications in African languages. It’s also very informative regarding development and management of multilingual education models. ADEA (2006) Optimising learning and education in Africa: The language factor. A Stock- taking research on mother tongue and bilingual education in sub-Saharan Africa http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/downloadcenter/Ouga/B3_1_MTBLE_en.pdf Accessed 20 July 2014 Benson C, Kosonen K (eds) (2013) Language issues in comparative education: Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and cultures. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam Heugh, K, Skutnabb-Kangas, T, Panda, M, Mohanty, AK, Phillipson, R. (2009). Literacy and bi/multilingual education in Africa: recovering collective memory and expertise. http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-outputs/view/4927#sthash.B1Xai0AZ.dpuf. Accessed 28 Sep 2015. Monograph, publication year 2009. Heugh, K and Skutnabb-Kangas, T (Eds). (2010) Multilingual Education Works. Orient Blackswan Private Limited. New Delhi. Ouane, Adama and Glanz, Christine (eds) (2011) Optimising Learning, Education and Publishing in Africa: The Language Factor. UNESCO/ADEA. Skuttnab-Kangas T, Heugh K (eds) (2013) Multilingual education and sustainable diversity work: From periphery to center. Routledge, London 17