For the third time in 11 years, Rwanda changed the language used in primary schools
In December, Rwanda’s government announced that all Rwandan primary schools should teach in English, a language that many teachers in the country cannot understand or speak. This is the third time in 11 years that the government has introduced a major language shift. Education officials, donors and others are now scrambling to respond.
What’s behind these shifts in the language of instruction? And what are the wider implications? Here’s what you need to know.
1. Here’s what just changed
This new plan requires schools to teach in English starting in the first grade. Yet many primary schoolteachers in Rwanda don’t speak English — a 2018 study found that just 38 percent of those teachers likely to be affected by the new change have a working knowledge of English.… Seguir leyendo »