No more English! Kiswahili to become sole language of instruction in Tanzania

10th March 2015 Tanzania has made history as the first African country to use an indigenous language expressly in educational instructions, especially at school. The country’s president Jakaya Kikwete has said that, henceforth education in Tanzania will have Kiswahili as the sole language of instruction.

Currently, public education in Tanzania is bilingual, as it has been since the country’s independence from the British in 1961. At primary level, students are taught in Kiswahili, with English a part of the curriculum as a language subject. At secondary school level, and all the way up to university, the learning process is reversed, with English becoming the medium of instruction.