RWANDA OPTS FOR ENGLISH TEACHING.
Rwanda's cabinet has decided that all education will be taught in English instead of French.
Officially the Rwandan decision is a result of joining the English-speaking East African Community.
But relations between Rwanda and France have been frosty following the 1994 genocide, when France was accused of supporting Hutu militias.
Rwanda has applied to join the Commonwealth, the loose association of ex-British colonies and territories.
France has consistently denied any responsibility for the genocide, in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days.
In 2006, a French judge implicated Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the downing in 1994 of then-President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane - an event widely seen as triggering the killings.
Brush-off
The decision taken by the cabinet on Thursday will apply from nursery schools to universities.
Conversations in the capital, Kigali, are increasingly conducted in English.
A colleague who recently visited the country reported being given a brisk brush-off for asking for information in French.
And the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology has for some time used English as the official medium of instruction.
But elsewhere in Africa the story is a little different.
Ghana recently decided that its officials should learn French, so that they could hold their own with their West African colleagues from Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
So although Paris will not be pleased by the Rwandan decision, their language is by no means about to be extinguished from the African continent.
Mkandara,
..wameamua kutotumia Kifaransa kama medium of instruction. badala yake watatumia Kiingereza kuanzia chekechea.
..sasa kama suala ni azma yao ya kujiunga na jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki, kwanini wasifundishe kwa Kiswahili? kwa sababu wanapozungumzia Afrika Mashariki, nia yao ni kuunganika au kujichanganya na Tanzania.
..kutokana na kauli yako kwamba wana lugha yao ya Kinyarwanda. kwanini wasifute Kifaransa, na badala yake kutumia Kinyarwanda?
..mwisho, badala ya kutumia tu msemo "Waafrika ndivyo tulivyo," ni vizuri ukatueleza kwanini unafikiri uamuzi waliochukua hautakuja kuwa na manufaa kwao.
..................
..vilevile, Tanzania tumefaidika vipi kielimu na kiutaalamu kwa ku-adopt Kiswahili kama medium of instruction ktk shule za msingi?
Kiingereza kinatambulika kama lugha rasmi ya Afrika Mashariki
Nadhani this is in line with kagame's plane to make Rwanda the silicon Valley of East Africa. Amewekea emphasis kubwa sana information technology hivi karibuni ametangaza kwamba serikali inamnunulia kila mtoto laptop (the 100 USD laptop). Kaeni mkiwabeza majirani zetu, watatuacha mbaliiii!
I think despite mapungufu yake kama binadamu, kagame has proven himself to be a leader with some vision and some strategic thinking, siyo kula, lala faulu kama huyu Ze Comedy wetu!!!
Waafrika ndivyo mlivyo. Malawi, Zambia na nchi nyingine zilizotawaliwa na Mwingereza zinatumia English na bado nchi zinajinye@. Hivyo suala sio lugha.
Ni very rare katika nchi zetu za kiafrika kusikia asilimia kubwa ya Wananchi wa nchi wanamfagilia sana Rais wao. Nina marafiki zangu wanyarwanda wanasema wanyarwanda wanampenda sana Kagame maana anafanya mambo mbali mbali ambayo yana maslahi kwa nchi yake na wananchi wanaona tofauti kubwa katika maisha yao ya siku, in a positive way.
Sasa kuna haja ya Kikwete akaongee na Kagame ili ajue siri ya mafanikio yake labda miaka miwili iliyobaki anaweza kurudisha credibility yake. Miaka michache tu iliyopita Wahutu na Watutsi waliuana kwa wingi sana lakini baada ya nchi yao kutengemaa wamepiga hatua kubwa sana katika kipindi kifupi wakati sisi bado tunamangamanga tu kwa kuwa na viongozi wasio na uwezo wa kuiongoza nchi.
Rubabi,Zakumi,Mkandara,Jasusi,...
..je, Malawi,Zambia,Uganda,Kenya,....wanaofundisha Kiingereza toka primary wanapoteza wanafunzi wengi wanapofika form 4 kama inavyotokea Tanzania?