‘Tis the quality of what we produce that will make us global, not English
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
For May 10th, 2008 issue of the Daily News
According to an article in the Citizen of April 30, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Prof. Maghembe, wants to make English the medium of teaching and learning at all levels of Tanzanian education system, as soon as possible.
The reasons he reportedly gave were that “English is the recognized medium of instruction and communication in the world and, according to him, everyone is encouraged to learn it in the hope of keeping pace with the… globalization process.” But he recognizes that there are many challenges – lack of English-proficient teachers at all levels, lack of books – that may slow down the implement by five years.
What if the reasons for which English is about to be enthroned again in Tanzania are misplaced, fallacious?
The “we need English to participate in globalization” mantra has taken hold of Tanzania. It is chanted repeatedly by people of all ages, so much so that despite the fallacy of its assumption it has donned an air of unassailable truth.
Don’t they say if a lie is repeated often enough, even the liar himself will begin to believe it? So, assail we must this pretender to unassailability.
English is the medium of instruction in the U.K. and its ex-colonies as French is the medium of instruction in France, German in Germany, Swedish in Sweden, Dutch in Holland, Japanese in Japan, Spanish in Spain, Danish in Denmark, Korean in Korea and so on. Let’s get it straight. English is one of many, not “the” medium of instruction around the world.
Do you suppose that those countries listed whose people don’t all speak fluent English, struggle to keep up with globalization as some English speakers might want us to believe? Not in the least bit. They “lead” the globalization process in many areas, ahead of their English speaking counterparts. More than half of the countries listed have average income that is higher than those of the U.K. or the U.S.A. Doesn’t that drive home the point?
Japanese products – Sony, Toyota, Nissan, Nikon, Hitachi, Sanyo, and National have become household words even in remote villages. It wasn’t English that Japanese don’t speak that made them so, but the “quality” of their product that made them highly sought after even in our villages.
Yes, people in these non-English speaking countries all learn English. They do so for the convenience of it. English has indeed become the lingua franca of the world. That has more to do with history than inherent merit of the English language. England was, afterall, the leading colonial master from the 18th to 20th century. Three centuries is a long time, long enough for a language that was imposed to stick.
Wouldn’t we love to export to our neighbouring countries cars that we have started to assemble in Tanzania? What if that company spent money to train every single person in that car factory, from the floor sweeper to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), to speak English fluently? What if, instead, that money was spent on quality enhancement and quality control so that they end up producing better cars?
Wouldn’t a CEO who is mindful of costs be selective? Would he have only those who need English on the job be trained and devote a larger chunk of the money on product quality enhancement? He wouldn’t train his entire labour force in English. That would be a waste. And yet isn’t that precisely what our Ministry of Education proposes to do, but in a grander scale involving the entire country?
In Italy, as in all non-English speaking countries, English is taught as a second or third language. The majority of Italians wouldn’t be able to converse comfortably in English. Still, Italy “leads” the world in tourism, hands down. With them, there is no “hoping” to keep up with globalization for them.
It’s not English but the quality of our products that will earn us a place in the globalization process. Why then do we persist, wanting to put all bets on English when improved math skills, science, entrepreneurship, management and marketing skills could serve us better?
No Kiswahili in schools means Kiswahili will fade away in large parts of the country where it is not the mother tongue. English will replace Kiswahili as the country’s lingua franca, the only means of uniting 120 some ethnic groups throughout the country that have their own distinct languages.
Gone will be our national pride for having an African language to unify us rather than a language that has a stamp of colonial legacy. And we would have spent hundreds of billions of shillings with the hope that English will make us more global when that “hope” may be nothing but our misplaced, wishful thinking.
ykimaro@yahoo.com
Showing posts with label Young Kimaro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Young Kimaro. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
"Of what good is adult literacy if it can't be put to use?" by Young Kimaro, columnist, the Daily News Online, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Of what good is adult literacy if it can’t be put to use?
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
March 1, 2008 issue of the Daily News
In 2005, adult literacy rates (of those 15 years or older) in Asia, Europe and North America averaged over 90 percent; in the Middle East and North Africa, 73 percent; Sub-Saharan Africa trailed behind with 59 percent ; and in Tanzania, 64 percent.
For Tanzania that has had uninterrupted stability in a continent that’s in constant turmoil, an adult literacy rate that beats the continent average by only 5 percentage points is hardly an achievement.
If statistics and memory serve me right, Tanzania’s adult literacy rate has been on a cyclical seesaw. It shot up to over 90 percent in the early 1980s, following a drive for Universal Primary Education in the late 1970s that combined with a vigorous adult literacy campaign. A decade later, it had slid down to the 60 percent range.
Another campaign together with another Universal Primary Education drive in the 1990s bounced the rate back up. A decade later it slid down to the 60 percent range again.
The Government is stirring to launch yet another literacy campaign to bounce the seesaw back up. But of what good is billions of shillings spent on adult literacy campaign, to individuals or to the country, if that literacy skill won’t stick?
Perhaps we could learn from a villager who explains why he lost his hard earned reading skills.
“I was so proud to be able to read finally. My children, too, were proud. I wanted to read and learn more about farming, about the world. But after I finished the course I had nothing to read. Not a single shop in my village sells books; no newspaper reaches us. It’s very discouraging.”
No books, no newspapers, nothing to read. Literacy skill, left unused, is lost with time. Guaranteed.
Perhaps our point of attack shouldn’t be another run-of-the-mill “literacy” campaign, but one with a broader perspective, one that will also mind getting reading materials out to villages so that the hard-earned reading skills could be put to good use.
We can’t afford to flood the country with books for adult readers, not for now. But flyers and leaflets should be affordable, especially if inexpensive newsprint paper is used.
These flyers and leaflets could carry practical information on what villagers could do to help themselves. They have to be written in jargon-free, simple and friendly language that even a Standard 3 student can understand easily. Topics they could cover are endless.
What to do to avoid contracting the disease during outbreak of an epidemic; how to treat simple avoid tetanus from simple cuts; what combination of local foods will give children a balanced diet; and so on.
How to terrace a slope to reduce soil erosion and to keep moisture longer in the soil; how to increase maize yields by simply changing planting distances; how to store crops to reduce post-harvest losses by as much as one third; and so on.
What parents could do at home to help their children to perform better in school such as never sending them to school in empty stomach, even if it’s just ripe bananas or boiled sweet potatoes; making sure children review the notes they had taken at school (since most won’t bring books home) that same day; and so on.
Simple stories based on folk tales from around Tanzania or from around the world, written simply so that even parents with newly acquired literacy skills can read to their pre-schoolers.
Parents who read stories to their pre-schoolers will, while they strengthen their own literacy, instill in their young a love for reading which will give the children a competitive edge later in life, in education and at work.
These flyers and leaflets could be posted on bulletin boards in villages that stand mostly empty for want of materials. Maybe extra flyers and leaflets could be available to those who are interested, at cost.
In China, many such bulletin boards carry newspapers for the benefit of villagers. Could that also work in Tanzania to help villagers keep up to date on current affairs while they again practice their reading skills?
If there are no bulletin boards, setting up new ones is no sweat: A few nails, a board, a wall space where there is an overhead cover to protect the board from rain. That’s all it takes.
Choose places where people like to congregate like market places, schools, churches, health centres. These flyers could spice up villagers’ conversations at the market.
Ebu (say), did you see the karatasi (the flyer) about getting your cow to produce more milk? It says you might feed and care for your cows well but if you don’t give them enough water, you won’t get much milk.
I give mine a full ndoo (bucket) each every morning. Isn’t that enough? Not according to the flyer, it isn’t. It says you should give them three or four buckets each every day. More water, more milk. Really?
If these flyers and leaflets are done right, practical knowledge they bring to the people would capture their attention and more will want to read them.
We could then be killing two birds with one stone. Their literacy will be kept up as they read these flyers and, by using the knowledge they bring, villagers could improve their lives.
If our adult literacy program could overcome its “number fixation,” look beyond the classroom, and take on getting reading materials to villages as one of its major concerns, it could launch the entire country onto a path of lifelong learning and empower the people with a ticket out of poverty.
Who said only two birds could be killed with one stone? This could be our third.
ykimaro@yahoo.com
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
March 1, 2008 issue of the Daily News
In 2005, adult literacy rates (of those 15 years or older) in Asia, Europe and North America averaged over 90 percent; in the Middle East and North Africa, 73 percent; Sub-Saharan Africa trailed behind with 59 percent ; and in Tanzania, 64 percent.
For Tanzania that has had uninterrupted stability in a continent that’s in constant turmoil, an adult literacy rate that beats the continent average by only 5 percentage points is hardly an achievement.
If statistics and memory serve me right, Tanzania’s adult literacy rate has been on a cyclical seesaw. It shot up to over 90 percent in the early 1980s, following a drive for Universal Primary Education in the late 1970s that combined with a vigorous adult literacy campaign. A decade later, it had slid down to the 60 percent range.
Another campaign together with another Universal Primary Education drive in the 1990s bounced the rate back up. A decade later it slid down to the 60 percent range again.
The Government is stirring to launch yet another literacy campaign to bounce the seesaw back up. But of what good is billions of shillings spent on adult literacy campaign, to individuals or to the country, if that literacy skill won’t stick?
Perhaps we could learn from a villager who explains why he lost his hard earned reading skills.
“I was so proud to be able to read finally. My children, too, were proud. I wanted to read and learn more about farming, about the world. But after I finished the course I had nothing to read. Not a single shop in my village sells books; no newspaper reaches us. It’s very discouraging.”
No books, no newspapers, nothing to read. Literacy skill, left unused, is lost with time. Guaranteed.
Perhaps our point of attack shouldn’t be another run-of-the-mill “literacy” campaign, but one with a broader perspective, one that will also mind getting reading materials out to villages so that the hard-earned reading skills could be put to good use.
We can’t afford to flood the country with books for adult readers, not for now. But flyers and leaflets should be affordable, especially if inexpensive newsprint paper is used.
These flyers and leaflets could carry practical information on what villagers could do to help themselves. They have to be written in jargon-free, simple and friendly language that even a Standard 3 student can understand easily. Topics they could cover are endless.
What to do to avoid contracting the disease during outbreak of an epidemic; how to treat simple avoid tetanus from simple cuts; what combination of local foods will give children a balanced diet; and so on.
How to terrace a slope to reduce soil erosion and to keep moisture longer in the soil; how to increase maize yields by simply changing planting distances; how to store crops to reduce post-harvest losses by as much as one third; and so on.
What parents could do at home to help their children to perform better in school such as never sending them to school in empty stomach, even if it’s just ripe bananas or boiled sweet potatoes; making sure children review the notes they had taken at school (since most won’t bring books home) that same day; and so on.
Simple stories based on folk tales from around Tanzania or from around the world, written simply so that even parents with newly acquired literacy skills can read to their pre-schoolers.
Parents who read stories to their pre-schoolers will, while they strengthen their own literacy, instill in their young a love for reading which will give the children a competitive edge later in life, in education and at work.
These flyers and leaflets could be posted on bulletin boards in villages that stand mostly empty for want of materials. Maybe extra flyers and leaflets could be available to those who are interested, at cost.
In China, many such bulletin boards carry newspapers for the benefit of villagers. Could that also work in Tanzania to help villagers keep up to date on current affairs while they again practice their reading skills?
If there are no bulletin boards, setting up new ones is no sweat: A few nails, a board, a wall space where there is an overhead cover to protect the board from rain. That’s all it takes.
Choose places where people like to congregate like market places, schools, churches, health centres. These flyers could spice up villagers’ conversations at the market.
Ebu (say), did you see the karatasi (the flyer) about getting your cow to produce more milk? It says you might feed and care for your cows well but if you don’t give them enough water, you won’t get much milk.
I give mine a full ndoo (bucket) each every morning. Isn’t that enough? Not according to the flyer, it isn’t. It says you should give them three or four buckets each every day. More water, more milk. Really?
If these flyers and leaflets are done right, practical knowledge they bring to the people would capture their attention and more will want to read them.
We could then be killing two birds with one stone. Their literacy will be kept up as they read these flyers and, by using the knowledge they bring, villagers could improve their lives.
If our adult literacy program could overcome its “number fixation,” look beyond the classroom, and take on getting reading materials to villages as one of its major concerns, it could launch the entire country onto a path of lifelong learning and empower the people with a ticket out of poverty.
Who said only two birds could be killed with one stone? This could be our third.
ykimaro@yahoo.com
Sunday, July 5, 2009
"What books on good farming practices for our farmers?" by Young Kimaro, columnist for the Daily News, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Young Kimaro writes the "Development with Commonsense" column for the Daily News in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Her articles are informative, rich with food for thought as well as pragmatic solutions.
This is one of Ms. Kimaro's recent columns on education and reading. Please feel free to post a comment.
What books on good farming practices for our farmers?
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
February 7th issue of the Daily News
Not much as far as I know. Few pamphlets here and there perhaps. Don’t know whether they reach the farmers, though. Haven’t seen any sign of them around our village.
I once scoured around Dar es Salaam in search of reading materials in Kiswhaili on better farming practices and animal husbandry, written simply and with good illustrations suitable for farmers. My experience was much like Teben’s. Bookshops around the city were slim on books in Kiswahili. The recently opened Soma Book Café carries more books in Kiswahili than any that I have seen so far, but when it comes to books on farming and livestock they too didn’t make the mark.
I am directed to one agricultural project office near the Askari monument. No, we don’t handle such publications. Sorry. Perhaps you should try our main office at Chang’ombe. The Livestock Ministry is right there too. They are sure to have what you are looking for. Everything.
O.K. Agricultural Extension folks interact with farmers all the time. If anyone has those materials, surely it would be them. So, with raised hopes I plunge into the Dar es Salaam traffic and head out to Chang’ombe.
A spiel to one of the senior officers: Looking for books on improved farming for villagers – crops, livestock, chicken rearing. I wait in anticipation as she opens the glass door to a bookcase by her desk in which are several rows of small booklets standing tightly packed. She pulls out a few. What about these?
“Enriched Compost for Higher Yields”, “How to Control Striga and Stemborer in Maize”, “Improved Practices in Rearing Indigenous Chickens,” and more. They are part of a “CTA Practical Guide Series” financed by the European Union. They come with simple and easy to follow diagrams and tables.
I can’t hide my excitement. Yes, yes, precisely. These are exactly what I am looking for but, but … in Kiswahili? She shakes her head. Used to have some but no more. No funds. Perhaps the Library…. She leads me through the corridors.
The Librarian offers a few more of the same pamphlets, all in English. Aren’t there any in Kiswahili? The Librarian shakes her head. Sorry. How come? Most of the farmers in Tanzania don’t read English but these are all in English? How come? Who are they for?
The Librarian is taken back by the sudden outburst that’s unfairly hurled at her. After all, she only keeps what’s given to her. She quickly ushers me to an mzee seated at one corner of the Library, reading. Mr. Eusebio Mlay’s one of our senior officers. Maybe he can help you. With that she wastes no time retreating to the safety of the book stacks.
Mr. Mlay had overheard the commotion and is bemused. May be our Ministry’s Training Unit will have what you are looking for. Come. He folds up what he was doing and leads out of the building into the blazing sun to another building, a little walk away.
A large office is filled with desks but only one at the far end is occupied. The officer responds stiffly to our greetings; bad sign. My spiel again, why I am here, what I am looking for. He pulls out a few books, real books, containing a wealth of information.
Don’t have any extra copies now, he explains. New order’s in for the next round of training. When the new batch arrives, can the Ministry possibly donate a few to a community library in our village? Not possible. Regulations. He is categorical, unyielding even to his colleague’s entreaties. We cut our losses short and scoot out of there.
Mr. Mlay wants us to try just one more office. It’s already well past the office hour but Mr. Kirenga, the new Assistant Director of Extension Services is still at his desk and kindly obliges a stranger knocking at his door without appointment.
For the seventh time that day the broken record plays the spiel again. But I sense it’s different this time. A shared concern lingers in the air.
At one time, says Mr. Kirenga, the Adult Literacy Program folks produced wonderful booklets on improved farming and practical guides on many other topics for adults. That probably was the reason why those literacy programs did so well. But they don’t do that any more. Their materials are very hard to come by. We had good work done, but we seem to have dropped the ball.
He had to scrounge around for them, says Mr. Kirenga, as he hands over a thick folder. Inside it are the very treasures I have been searching for: practical guides with simple illustrations to help farmers improve their farming and livestock keeping practices, all in … yes, Kiswahili! But these are the only copies he has. If only these could be reprinted and made widely available. Perhaps, in his new position he can make it all happen. Perhaps.
On my way out, as we pass his office Mr. Mlay pops in for a brief moment then comes out with few books in hand, the ones we were denied at the Training office. Homework, I surmise, remembering them days. But I am wrong. He holds the books out to me. Mama, these are for your library. Take them.
ykimaro@yahoo.com
This is one of Ms. Kimaro's recent columns on education and reading. Please feel free to post a comment.
What books on good farming practices for our farmers?
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
February 7th issue of the Daily News
Not much as far as I know. Few pamphlets here and there perhaps. Don’t know whether they reach the farmers, though. Haven’t seen any sign of them around our village.
I once scoured around Dar es Salaam in search of reading materials in Kiswhaili on better farming practices and animal husbandry, written simply and with good illustrations suitable for farmers. My experience was much like Teben’s. Bookshops around the city were slim on books in Kiswahili. The recently opened Soma Book Café carries more books in Kiswahili than any that I have seen so far, but when it comes to books on farming and livestock they too didn’t make the mark.
I am directed to one agricultural project office near the Askari monument. No, we don’t handle such publications. Sorry. Perhaps you should try our main office at Chang’ombe. The Livestock Ministry is right there too. They are sure to have what you are looking for. Everything.
O.K. Agricultural Extension folks interact with farmers all the time. If anyone has those materials, surely it would be them. So, with raised hopes I plunge into the Dar es Salaam traffic and head out to Chang’ombe.
A spiel to one of the senior officers: Looking for books on improved farming for villagers – crops, livestock, chicken rearing. I wait in anticipation as she opens the glass door to a bookcase by her desk in which are several rows of small booklets standing tightly packed. She pulls out a few. What about these?
“Enriched Compost for Higher Yields”, “How to Control Striga and Stemborer in Maize”, “Improved Practices in Rearing Indigenous Chickens,” and more. They are part of a “CTA Practical Guide Series” financed by the European Union. They come with simple and easy to follow diagrams and tables.
I can’t hide my excitement. Yes, yes, precisely. These are exactly what I am looking for but, but … in Kiswahili? She shakes her head. Used to have some but no more. No funds. Perhaps the Library…. She leads me through the corridors.
The Librarian offers a few more of the same pamphlets, all in English. Aren’t there any in Kiswahili? The Librarian shakes her head. Sorry. How come? Most of the farmers in Tanzania don’t read English but these are all in English? How come? Who are they for?
The Librarian is taken back by the sudden outburst that’s unfairly hurled at her. After all, she only keeps what’s given to her. She quickly ushers me to an mzee seated at one corner of the Library, reading. Mr. Eusebio Mlay’s one of our senior officers. Maybe he can help you. With that she wastes no time retreating to the safety of the book stacks.
Mr. Mlay had overheard the commotion and is bemused. May be our Ministry’s Training Unit will have what you are looking for. Come. He folds up what he was doing and leads out of the building into the blazing sun to another building, a little walk away.
A large office is filled with desks but only one at the far end is occupied. The officer responds stiffly to our greetings; bad sign. My spiel again, why I am here, what I am looking for. He pulls out a few books, real books, containing a wealth of information.
Don’t have any extra copies now, he explains. New order’s in for the next round of training. When the new batch arrives, can the Ministry possibly donate a few to a community library in our village? Not possible. Regulations. He is categorical, unyielding even to his colleague’s entreaties. We cut our losses short and scoot out of there.
Mr. Mlay wants us to try just one more office. It’s already well past the office hour but Mr. Kirenga, the new Assistant Director of Extension Services is still at his desk and kindly obliges a stranger knocking at his door without appointment.
For the seventh time that day the broken record plays the spiel again. But I sense it’s different this time. A shared concern lingers in the air.
At one time, says Mr. Kirenga, the Adult Literacy Program folks produced wonderful booklets on improved farming and practical guides on many other topics for adults. That probably was the reason why those literacy programs did so well. But they don’t do that any more. Their materials are very hard to come by. We had good work done, but we seem to have dropped the ball.
He had to scrounge around for them, says Mr. Kirenga, as he hands over a thick folder. Inside it are the very treasures I have been searching for: practical guides with simple illustrations to help farmers improve their farming and livestock keeping practices, all in … yes, Kiswahili! But these are the only copies he has. If only these could be reprinted and made widely available. Perhaps, in his new position he can make it all happen. Perhaps.
On my way out, as we pass his office Mr. Mlay pops in for a brief moment then comes out with few books in hand, the ones we were denied at the Training office. Homework, I surmise, remembering them days. But I am wrong. He holds the books out to me. Mama, these are for your library. Take them.
ykimaro@yahoo.com
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
"And what about books in Swahili for our children to read" by Young Kimaro, columnist, the Daily News in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Young Kimaro writes the "Development with Commonsense" column for the Daily News in Dar Es Salaam. Her articles are informative, rich with food for thought as well as pragmatic solutions. An excellent example: Ms. Kimaro's proposal for "science stimulus packages" for secondary schools in Tanzania. See my previous post for a link to that article.
I asked Ms. Kimaro if she had written additional columns on education and reading -- and was delighted when she sent me several more to share.
This is the first of four columns I'll post here. Please feel free to write a comment after reading.
"And what about books in Swahili for our children to read"
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
For January 31st issue of the Daily News
“You goofed in your last article,” chides my good old friend Teben. “Of what use is saying all those nice things about reading when that’s out of reach of so many people in Tanzania? Don’t you think the majority of Tanzanians don’t read because they don’t have anything to read?” Teben’s of course right. In Tanzania, books and even newspapers are hard to come by outside major urban areas.
It’s a complex issue. I was sidestepping it by touching the easiest facet, those who have access to books and yet do not read. Now that Teben has forced the issue and she won’t let me get away with it, so tackle it I must, perhaps in bite-sizes starting with children’s books.
I remember one time Teben wanted to buy books as Christmas gift for all the children of Tanzanian staff at her embassy. She scoured around Dar es Salaam for children’s books in Swahili, colourful books that children would find irresistible, books with large prints and short simple texts that make reading fun and not a chore for the young.
It was so hard for her to find books in Swahili to begin with and the few that came close to what she was looking for were expensive. Books for teenagers … well they were so dull and uninviting. She ended up abandonning the idea altogether.
How can this be? If we want a reading culture to develop, our children have to get into the habit of reading from very young age. But how can they if they don’t have books in Swahili? Instead of lofty speeches shouldn’t Government officials pay attention to how books can be made available? OK, it’s not the Government’s job to publish books. Isn’t it its job to be a catalyst to help it to happen? But instead it may have discouraged it.
The Governmnet has allowed the language issue to drag on unresolved for years. The possibility that we might switch out of Swahili to English rears its head every so often, often enough to discourage publishers from investing in books in Swahili. They won’t risk it if their market could be wiped out overnight with a stroke of pen. Can’t blame them.
Even if the language issue were resolved today, it will take time for creative authors and illustrators to come along in sufficient numbers. There’s nonetheless plenty to do in the meantime. We could tap the classics in world literature. No, I don’t mean translating the original texts. That’s an enormous task that requires not only the ability to translate but also literary skills of highest order in Swahili itself to do justice to those masterpieces.
Translating abridged versions of these classics though, and some of them are already trimmed to barebones for young children, would be not be hard to do.
Reading an abridged version of “the Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens in Swahili, our children will witness how absolute power in the hands of a few in France before the French Revolution created an overly indulgent ruling class that was so wrapped up in privileges and self-importance that it had no feeling for the plight of the poor, hungry and angry masses.
Children will learn that democracy had a violent birth in France, that it rose against the backdrop of an over-worked guillotine that came swishing down time and again, dispatching many among whom was Marie-Antoinette who thought cake should solve the hunger problem of the masses.
Shakespeare’s plays have already been recast into short stories. Charles and Mary Lamb’s “The Tales of Shakespeare” is much read by children in England. Those too would lend well to translation.
That would acquaint our children with Hamlet’s excessive ruminations that rob him of the ability to act. They will see in Macbeth the destruction that one can bring on oneself by failing to curb blind ambition. They will revel at the timeless romance of Romeo and Juliet and grieve over their death that shouldn’t have been.
What if these tales of Shakespeare were in Swahili, illustrated in very African fashion with colourful kitenge and kanga designs as backdrop?
Lift up your vista, publishers. Go invest in books in Swahili, big time. Let our stores overflow with them so that our children can read. It’s not as risky as you think. The market for books in Swahili stretches beyond our borders and that’s your insurance. Look at the Swahili speaking population in parts of Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Comoros, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, even Somalia and Sudan if they weren’t fighting. Don’t their numbers add up to a sizable market, all there for you to tap?
Think of it. No policy-maker could rob that from you with a stroke of pen unless, unless … exporting books in Swahili is banned. Oh, oh ….
ykimaro@yahoo.com
I asked Ms. Kimaro if she had written additional columns on education and reading -- and was delighted when she sent me several more to share.
This is the first of four columns I'll post here. Please feel free to write a comment after reading.
"And what about books in Swahili for our children to read"
by Young Kimaro
Development with Commonsense column
For January 31st issue of the Daily News
“You goofed in your last article,” chides my good old friend Teben. “Of what use is saying all those nice things about reading when that’s out of reach of so many people in Tanzania? Don’t you think the majority of Tanzanians don’t read because they don’t have anything to read?” Teben’s of course right. In Tanzania, books and even newspapers are hard to come by outside major urban areas.
It’s a complex issue. I was sidestepping it by touching the easiest facet, those who have access to books and yet do not read. Now that Teben has forced the issue and she won’t let me get away with it, so tackle it I must, perhaps in bite-sizes starting with children’s books.
I remember one time Teben wanted to buy books as Christmas gift for all the children of Tanzanian staff at her embassy. She scoured around Dar es Salaam for children’s books in Swahili, colourful books that children would find irresistible, books with large prints and short simple texts that make reading fun and not a chore for the young.
It was so hard for her to find books in Swahili to begin with and the few that came close to what she was looking for were expensive. Books for teenagers … well they were so dull and uninviting. She ended up abandonning the idea altogether.
How can this be? If we want a reading culture to develop, our children have to get into the habit of reading from very young age. But how can they if they don’t have books in Swahili? Instead of lofty speeches shouldn’t Government officials pay attention to how books can be made available? OK, it’s not the Government’s job to publish books. Isn’t it its job to be a catalyst to help it to happen? But instead it may have discouraged it.
The Governmnet has allowed the language issue to drag on unresolved for years. The possibility that we might switch out of Swahili to English rears its head every so often, often enough to discourage publishers from investing in books in Swahili. They won’t risk it if their market could be wiped out overnight with a stroke of pen. Can’t blame them.
Even if the language issue were resolved today, it will take time for creative authors and illustrators to come along in sufficient numbers. There’s nonetheless plenty to do in the meantime. We could tap the classics in world literature. No, I don’t mean translating the original texts. That’s an enormous task that requires not only the ability to translate but also literary skills of highest order in Swahili itself to do justice to those masterpieces.
Translating abridged versions of these classics though, and some of them are already trimmed to barebones for young children, would be not be hard to do.
Reading an abridged version of “the Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens in Swahili, our children will witness how absolute power in the hands of a few in France before the French Revolution created an overly indulgent ruling class that was so wrapped up in privileges and self-importance that it had no feeling for the plight of the poor, hungry and angry masses.
Children will learn that democracy had a violent birth in France, that it rose against the backdrop of an over-worked guillotine that came swishing down time and again, dispatching many among whom was Marie-Antoinette who thought cake should solve the hunger problem of the masses.
Shakespeare’s plays have already been recast into short stories. Charles and Mary Lamb’s “The Tales of Shakespeare” is much read by children in England. Those too would lend well to translation.
That would acquaint our children with Hamlet’s excessive ruminations that rob him of the ability to act. They will see in Macbeth the destruction that one can bring on oneself by failing to curb blind ambition. They will revel at the timeless romance of Romeo and Juliet and grieve over their death that shouldn’t have been.
What if these tales of Shakespeare were in Swahili, illustrated in very African fashion with colourful kitenge and kanga designs as backdrop?
Lift up your vista, publishers. Go invest in books in Swahili, big time. Let our stores overflow with them so that our children can read. It’s not as risky as you think. The market for books in Swahili stretches beyond our borders and that’s your insurance. Look at the Swahili speaking population in parts of Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Comoros, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, even Somalia and Sudan if they weren’t fighting. Don’t their numbers add up to a sizable market, all there for you to tap?
Think of it. No policy-maker could rob that from you with a stroke of pen unless, unless … exporting books in Swahili is banned. Oh, oh ….
ykimaro@yahoo.com
Monday, June 29, 2009
Columnist Young Kimaro in the Dar Es Salaam "Daily News Online" - her vision for science education in Tanzania's secondary schools
Writing in the 27th June 2009 edition of the Daily News Online in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, columnist Young Kimaro questions the government proposal for a 590 million US dollar debt to build and equip science laboratories in every secondary school in the country.
Ms. Kimaro presents her own proposal: that every secondary school in Tanzania could receive its own "science stimulus package...a projector, a DVD player, two large speakers, a mini-generator for power backup, a screen, educational DVDs, and a fair selection of science reference books and biographies to bring all this excitement about science to the children."
The cost of Ms. Kimaro's proposal? "About 17.5 million US dollars will equip all 3,500 secondary schools in the country with such science stimulus packages and have them up and running. That's only 3 percent of the 590 million US dollars that the Ministry of Education proposes to spend on science labs."
Her research and proposal make sense to me. What do you think? Click here to read the full story.
Ms. Kimaro presents her own proposal: that every secondary school in Tanzania could receive its own "science stimulus package...a projector, a DVD player, two large speakers, a mini-generator for power backup, a screen, educational DVDs, and a fair selection of science reference books and biographies to bring all this excitement about science to the children."
The cost of Ms. Kimaro's proposal? "About 17.5 million US dollars will equip all 3,500 secondary schools in the country with such science stimulus packages and have them up and running. That's only 3 percent of the 590 million US dollars that the Ministry of Education proposes to spend on science labs."
Her research and proposal make sense to me. What do you think? Click here to read the full story.
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