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Usage of English Instead of Kiswahili Reason for Stunted Development

BY Soko Directory Team · November 26, 2019 01:11 pm

Kiswahili language experts, including lecturers and teachers, want the government to embrace Kiswahili as the country’s official language for Kenya to realize its growth economically.

Speaking during views’ collection on the National Kiswahili Council of Kenya Bill, 2019 at the Kenya School of Government, the experts said that the government should consider making Swahili the language to be used in its policies and agenda communications.

They argued that Kenyans are lagging behind development-wise because they have stuck to using English, which is a foreign language, citing that countries that use their native language maximally for official communication improve their growth rapidly.

The experts gave examples of countries such as Japan, Britain, and China as some of the countries that rule the economic world because of the use of their native languages and urged Kenyans to emulate them, if only to unlock their potential.

A Kenyatta University lecturer, Dr. Jesse Muriithi, said that Kenya’s growth economically and even socially is too slow, giving reasons that Kiswahili is hardly ever used.

READ ALSO: Chinese-Language Soon to Be Mandatory in Kenyan Schools 

According to the Kiswahili lecturer, if Swahili was made mandatory in all levels of education, and the government firm on making it a mandatory qualification before employment, it would improve the rate of development of the country.

The experts also noted that Kiswahili has not been allocated enough time of study in the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

According to a primary school teacher attending the event, English has been given more space in CBC as compared to Kiswahili, and has been made optional when learners proceed to secondary schools yet English is one of the compulsory subjects.

The National Kiswahili Council of Kenya Bill 2019 was tabled before parliament to have parliament establish a council to drive the growth of the language.

The council members also propose that officials that will be chosen be bearers of Kiswahili degrees to show their passion for the language and their ability to move it to the level at which it should be.

The experts also propose that leaders start off the use of Kiswahili and eventual growth of the country by using Kiswahili during international meetings and have it translated just as their counterparts from Japan, China and other such countries do.

“There is a lot to be done to ensure that Kiswahili takes the position it deserves, and this must start with our leaders, and the adjustment of school syllabus, only then shall we develop as a country,” said Dr. Muriithi.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Most Powerful Languages in the World 

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