Here, FYI, are some excerpts from a report relevant to the topic of the ERP/Africa conference in Rome this week:
"Education for rural people in Africa" by Ayalew Shibeshi, Paris 2006 [published by FAO and UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP); the seminar on which the document was based was held on 2005/9/7-9 in Addis Ababa, and its organization also involved the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA); funding came from several sources] Full text available at: http://www.fao.org/sd/erp/documents2007/Mep_Addisseminarsecured.pdf Excerpts and observations: (Language is not mentioned in the Executive Summary, although it is part of the discussions later in the report, beginning in Chapter 3.) Chapter 3 An overview of progress made by countries in ERP The countries represented in the seminar reported the status of ERP in their respective countries. This section highlights the main points of the presentations according to five major areas. These include early childhood care and education; primary education; language of instruction and adult and non-formal basic education. (p.29) . . . Education in an unfamiliar language is a major barrier to learning. Besides curriculum issues, a number of the seminar participant countries have adopted multilingual approaches that utilize local languages and mother tongues as languages of instruction. Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Southern Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda have adopted local languages as a medium of instruction, at least in the lower levels of primary school. In Burkina Faso, Niger, and Senegal, most schools use French. In Madagascar, Malgache [Malagasy] was used as a medium of instruction from 1972 until 1992. French was reinstated in 1992. The country report indicated that the language changes had not been planned properly and the introduction of French very early in the school process tends to widen the socio-cultural gap between rural/urban and advantaged/disadvantaged children. (p. 34) . . . [Chapter 4. Main policies and strategies for addressing inequalities and lessons learned] . . . Familiarity of teachers with the community in which they work enables them to render better service. Accordingly, some countries have based the recruitment and deployment of teachers on their knowledge for the local language and culture. (p. 40) . . . Deployment is further complicated where there are multiple ethnic or linguistic groups within a country. Teachers may be reluctant to take up employment in an area where the first language is different from their own. Where a teacher is not fluent in the language spoken locally, he/she may be isolated, professionally and socially. (p. 49) . . . The targeted recruitment strategy is most frequently used to recruit teachers from specific geographical regions or ethnic/linguistic groups. However, it may also be possible to focus teacher recruitment on teachers from socio-economic backgrounds. Teachers from poorer backgrounds may be more likely to value the relative security of the teaching profession and take up their postings (p. 51) . . . The mode of [vocational] training must be flexible enough to be able to cater for the needs of, and be attractive to, people with different characteristics such as differing levels of literacy, language, education and skills, people with disabilities, different age groups, ethnic groups and gender. (p. 56) . . . Minority ethnic groups Such groups may be marginalized and lack access to socio-economic services. Cultural, religious and linguistic factors may prevent their access to the school system. Schools may also be unresponsive to the specific needs of such groups. (p. 58) . . . Experience suggests that at least five guidelines for designing basic education content for learners in rural areas. First, the curriculum should combine the core national content with local content, taking into account context, customs, livelihoods and rural development activities. Second, it should take due account of teachers' qualifications and training (althought ideally these should be in accord with the curriculum). Third, it should make use of locally available skills, knowledge and other resources (including teachers) as much as possible. Fourth, multilingual approaches, which utilize local languages and mother tongues as languages of instruction, should be taken into consideration as much as possible, since education in an unfamiliar language can be a major barrier to learning - particularly for ethnic minorities and remote populations. Fifth, it should respond to the wishes expressed by the rural communities (i.e., be demand-driven), determined through consultation and negotiation with the community. or the adult learners. (p. 60) . . . -- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
