Kiswahili for SA schools in 2020

Kiswahili will, from 2020, become the latest language to be taught in South Africa’s classrooms. This East African lingua franca, which is also an official language of the African Union, will be an optional subject.

The news has been greeted with interest and has drawn praise from some quarters. But practical questions related to South Africa’s current sociolinguistic and educational contexts must be asked. For instance, why does South Africa need another language on top of the local 11 as well as the various foreign languages some schools offer? Has the country done all it can to champion local languages before adding another to the mix? And is there space on a crowded timetable to successfully carry on this project?

These questions shouldn’t be ignored, but I would argue the benefits of introducing Kiswahili far outweigh the risks. There are several reasons for this, among them the chance to prepare South African pupils for rich interactions in trade, academia and ordinary daily life elsewhere on the continent.

Kiswahili most likely originated on East Africa’s coast. It came about as a result of intermarriage between Bantu-speaking communities along the East African coast and Arabs who arrived at the coast from as early as before the 10th century, AD. It then spread into the interior through trade, Christian activities such as missionary work, and exploration activities in the East African mainland.

Today the language is spoken widely in the larger Eastern Africa region as a lingua franca, a language used between people who don’t speak one another’s native language. It’s a national language in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and an official language of the East African Community comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Its use is spreading to southern, western and northern Africa. However, none of these countries is teaching Kiswahili as a subject the way SA intends to. Instead, it is generally a language of trade and inter-ethnic communication. However, it may not be long until more countries join SA in teaching it in classrooms, since the language is spreading fast and becoming a household language in many of these countries in addition to its adoption as one of the official languages of the African Union.

Kiswahili is also a popular research subject at many South African universities. And it’s studied outside Africa, particularly in the US and Europe. This global interest in the adoption of Kiswahili points at its growing international significance.

SA’s language in education policy provides for the teaching of first and second additional languages alongside a first language (which is usually English or Afrikaans).

This is designed to create a truly multilingual and more inclusive society. In multilingual societies, many languages coexist for the greater national good. SA’s decision to embrace Swahili in schools should be celebrated. The Conversation

This global interest in the adoption of Kiswahili points at its growing international significance

Dr Peter Mose is a post-doctoral fellow at Rhodes University.