A class in Zanzibar. Both the Isles and Mainland use Kiswahili as a medium of instruction.
RECENTLY, I read an informative post from a journalist colleague Sammy Awami currently in Canada for media studies. He had noticed something while on visit to Finland during a study tour.
His observation at a Museum in Helsinki brought back the debate on language as a medium of research and teaching. He made reference to a note on the language strife in the history of the country which had one of the major conflicts of national history and domestic politics.
That it revolved around the question of what status Swedish - the language whichsince the Middle Ages had been the main language of administration and high culture in Finland - and, on the other hand, Finnish - the first language of the majority of Finns—should have in political, cultural, educational, and other national arenas.
The strife began in the latter half of the 19th century, continuing well into the 1920s and 1930s. The language question has today lost its prominence as Finnish has attained a dominant status.
A significant contribution to the Finnish national awakening from the mid-19th century onwards came from the members of the mostly Swedish- speaking upper classes deliberately choosing to promote Finnish culture and language.
This brings us to a recent writing by Austin Bukenya , a poet, playwright, novelist and academic who referred to Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s emergence as a literary figure, with his Juliasi Kaizari and Mabepari wa Venisi. He examined the works of African intellectual Mwalimu Nyerere as an alternative critique of the role and purposes of adult education in colonial and post-colonial conditions.
He reffered to literary and linguistic interest, however, is Mwalimu’s decision to launch his literary career with Shakespeare in Kiswahili. It points to a number of significant developments in his and Tanzania’s literary journey.
Bukenya argues that Mwalimu knew that the future of Tanzania’s culture lay in Kiswahili. To share Shakespeare with his people, he had to deliver him in Kiswahili, hence his daring translation enterprise.
“I call it daring because translation is such a complex affair that some purists even claim that it is impossible to properly translate any text at all.
Yet experience tells us that translation is a necessary channel of communication wherever two or more languages meet. How many people have ever read the Bible in its original tongues?” he wondered.
But that doesn’t mean that Mwalimu’s task of taking the English bull by the horns (or is it sharp spears?) and dragging it into the Kiswahili zizi was an easy feat by any means.
He noted Mwalimu probably took it on because he saw the great teaching value in the bard’s texts. Julius Caesar, for example, is an engaging study in the quest for political power, while The Merchant of Venice is a startling revelation of the evils of rapacious money- dominated systems.
According to Bukenya, apart from the relevant content, Mwalimu’s translations were practical demonstrations of the versatility and sophistication of Kiswahili, and its capability to take on the subtlest nuances of dramatic poetry.
“Anyway, his work across the two transnational languages in which he was equally fluent points to a significant trend in Tanzanian creative writing, which we may tend to ignore today.
Most East Africans assume that Tanzania’s creative writers publish almost exclusively in Kiswahili,” he noted. This is not accurate. Tanzanian authors, especially those of my generation, were as likely to write in English as in Kiswahili. He said only, the Tanzanians never seem to lose sight of their Kiswahili home.
A good example of this is the early work of my undergraduate contemporary, Ibrahim Hussein. His Kinjeketile Kiswahili and English texts were published almost simultaneously.
“The Tanzanians also maintain Mwalimu’s conviction that the best of world literature should be brought home, through quality translation, to their Kiswahili reading compatriots. Hence the appearance of texts like Masaibu ya Ndugu Jero, Shamba la Wanyama, Mkaguzi Mkuu wa Serikali and Mfalme Edipode, which we read today as Kiswahili texts in their own right,”noted Bujenya.
It is in the same light that recently, President Jakaya Kikwete launched the new education system that has abolished national examinations for primary school leavers and extended basic education to four years at secondary level. The policy will effectively make Kiswahili the medium of instruction from primary school to university level, thus dropping English that was initially used in the country’s education system from secondary to tertiary level.
The new policy is in line with Vision 2025 and has made considerations for global economic, social and technological changes. The president said that in the next seven years, the government would have built capacity whereby every child who starts Standard One would reach Form Four.
The new education system will incorporate vocational education in the basic education syllabus so that students who do not make it to Form Five have skills to contribute to the development of the country.
The argument is that there is need for a critical mass of skilled labour for the country’s development. It was proper that Kiswahili be the channel by which the skills are transferred to students.
Language studies will then be available to enable students to communicate in English. The document says the government will continue strengthening English in teaching along with Kiswahili during the transition period because using only Kiswahili will require a lot of resources.
Kiswahili is currently the language of instruction at primary level and English remains a subject. Thereafter, English becomes the language of instruction from secondary level to higher learning.
According to the policy, making Kiswahili the language of instruction at all levels of education is aimed at bringing sustainable efficiency in providing the skillful workforce that is needed for national development.
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