African governments inherited educational systems with Eurolanguages as the predominant media of instruction. To date, only a tiny minority of sub-Saharan African nations -like Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and the Sudanhave succeeded in extending instruction in African languages beyond the lower primary levels, and, even in these anomalous cases, post-primary education has remained the exclusive preserve of Euro-languages.The linguistic set-up in African education that was bequeathed to the continent by the colonial dispensation has prompted two kinds of responses over the years. There is, first, the functionalist response which stresses the inevitability and even usefulness of English, suggesting that, because of its global status, because of its wealth of publications, because of its 'affinity' with the inherited school system, English is a natural choice as the medium of African education. As soon as Kenya became independent in 1963, for example, the Ominde Commission (set up specifically to advise the government on issues of Alamm Mazrui teaches m the
Within the regional constellation of languages in East Africa English and Kiswahili have been the most influential trans-ethnic languages. The sociopolitical dynamics of these languages, however, have varied from one country to another along three interrelated parameters:(1) the confluence of indigenous, Islamic and Western traditions; (2) the divide, in power relations, between imperial, hegemonic and preponderant languages; and (3) the difference in the sociolinguistic values of sentiment and instrumentality. In this interaction of social forces the languages have played complementary and competitive roles and have acquired both convergent and divergent functions. As the East African multilingual context continues to favor a state of polylingualism, English and Kiswahili have been struggling for greater legitimacy, the former by getting increasingly localized and the latter by seeking universalist credentials.
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