I want to share this video created by Tanzanian secondary school students in Zanzibar discussing the challenges around English medium education at the secondary level.
English medium education (where all classes except for Swahili are taught in English) has been standard in Tanzania for many years. Many of the teachers themselves lack mastery of the language, and as a result students are unable to gain sufficient fluency at the primary school level before entering secondary school. Most of my own students frequently failed every course in Form I due to their inability to understand the classroom lectures or textbooks.
Recently the Tanzanian Parliament has passed a law to make Swahili the language of instruction to replace English in secondary schools (Swahili is already the language of instruction for primary schools), but this has yet to be implemented. Proper education in English is one of the many challenges faced by Tanzanian students in the educational system.
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