Millions of school children across large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are sat silently in classrooms, struggling to follow lessons, and not progressing in their learning due to an insistence that all lessons should be taught in English, say the authors of a new report.
The findings, published today as a policy brief from the University of Bath’s Institute for Policy Research (IPR) and the UK government’s Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC), highlight that a reliance on English as the principal ‘language of instruction’ within many schools is impacting girls most acutely.
Drawing on studies conducted in Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Egypt, the authors conclude that many children lack basic skills in English which has significant ramifications for their learning. English is often not practised or reinforced out of school, and teachers are also limited by language.
The research team says an unfamiliar language of instruction is compounding existing challenges and barriers to education for girls. For example, girls can struggle more than boys because in families the burden of housework often falls to them, which in turn denies them an opportunity to work on their English out-of-school hours.
The researchers argue that increasing access to education for girls is hugely important, but more attention now needs to be paid to the quality of that education too. Continuing to deliver all lessons in English, including maths and science, to children who struggle to understand, will hold back individual progress and have long-term, negative effects.
To address this, their report suggests that in the short-term more must be done to increase teachers’ own competence in English language to have a trickle-down effect on students. Longer term, they suggest that countries should re-evaluate historic decisions to teach in English and assess what impacts this is really having.
Source: Read Full Article