Socio-linguistic Implications of a Choice of Media of Instruction

Abstract

This chapter outlines preliminary results and some tentative conclusions drawn from an analysis of the results of the first stage of an inquiry into aspects of the language use and language attainment of children who entered secondary schools in Kenya in 1968. In towns and areas in which groups speaking different languages had settled Swahili was the medium of instruction in the lower primary schools. The most significant consequence of the Report in many rural areas seems to have been that exclusion of Swahili as a medium of instruction was accelerated, as was the introduction of English as a medium. The percentage was higher in Mombasa, where the Aga Khan Education Board had introduced initial English medium instruction in schools under its jurisdiction as early as 1953. However, in 1960 Swahili was still widely used as a medium of instruction in schools in towns, and in many cases it was also taught in the periods allocated for training in Vernacular.