In
1951, the British Colonial Office and the Nuffield Foundation sponsored a study
of Education Policy and Practice in British Tropical African Territories. This study
was carried out by two groups: one for West Africa and the other for East
Africa. The East Africa group was chaired by A.L Binns. The first and strongly
recommended recommendation was:
“We suggest, therefore, that because the
present teaching of Swahili stands in the way of the strong development of both
vernacular and English teaching, a policy should be followed which leads to its
eventual elimination from all schools where it is taught as a lingua franca.”
The
report went further to recommend only four elementary years for the teaching of
“selected” vernacular languages, while the remaining of the education would be
in English. The mention of “vernacular” seems to be only a decoy towards
promotion of entrenched colonial consciousness via English for the exclusive
benefit of England.
This
view was expressed more forcibly by the East Africa royal commission of 1953-55:
“We regard the teaching of Swahili as a
second language to children whose early education has been in other vernaculars
as a complete waste of time and effort.”
The
British tried to trick the people of East Africa to dump what they owned for
their own benefit to using a foreign product for foreigners benefit but the
people didn’t fall for it. The use of Kiswahili as a lingua franca in East Africa
has enabled understanding between diverse people. It also bypasses any ethnic
resentments because the language does not belong to any particular ethnic
group. Its development becomes the shared responsibility of all who speak it.
It
is a good thing that this British plot to eliminate Kiswahili failed.
Reference
Whiteley, Wilfred Howell
(1969). Swahili: the rise of a national language. pp 9-10
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