LANGUAGE IN USE TO EDUCATION CRISIS IN TANZANIA

              LANGUAGE IN USE TO EDUCATION CRISIS IN     TANZANIA

By Miriam .J. Sikazwe

          Language is a means of communication used by a particular group of people. In education language has been emphasized because it is a tool for understanding and acquiring the knowledge. So for knowledge to be fully acquired the learner should be familiar to the language used for instruction. In Tanzania the use of English language as a language of instruction especially at the secondary level has led to many education problems. This can be because English is not our mother tongue and also many students don’t have good foundation in English language. These problems can be evidenced in the following ways:
            Performance and the number of students who pass primary education national examination to join secondary school is higher compare to number of students who pass secondary national examination. This is because Kiswahili the language used by most of the students is the language used for instruction to all subjects except English subject at the primary education. Students at this level have greater chance to understand easily what they are taught and it is easy for them to do well in their final examination. At the same time the same students who did well in the primary education lower their performance in the secondary education because English language is used for instruction and it is totally new to them. It is so clear that most of the secondary students memorize the subjects rather than understanding them, for example a form one student can define what biology is but cannot give more clarification about the definition he or she defined.
              Performance ratio of students who went to English medium school and international schools in primary level also do well in secondary education compare to those who went to government schools. English medium school students benefit more in secondary education because they are competent in English language. No wonder every year private schools are in upper position in the national examination results.
              Also language issue has affected the shape of the Tanzania education outcome. Our education form a pyramid shape since the number of students enrolled to start standard one in a particular year is higher while only few students succeed to rich at the higher education level for example university level.
            Another thing is that performance difference between government schools, English medium schools, and international schools due to language competence differences has created inferiority to government schools and its students. Government school students regard themselves as children from low class family, and poor family because their parents cannot afford to pay for private school cost. It is so sad that the situation has affected the future of the students from government schools in the employment opportunities, for example I was asked which school did I attend in secondary education during my job interview at a certain private school, because they had fear that a teacher who was once a government school student can teach by using English language properly so they had to take someone who came from private school.
                 In a conclusion since English language is an international language there is no way we can get rid of it. It’s time now our government and ministry of education to allow English language be the language of instruction from pre-primary education to higher education level. This will help students to have good language foundation from their lower level of study to the higher level. It will also improve competence and performance of English language to our graduates, to help them compete in the international employment market.