A POLICY ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION IN KENYA
Abstract
In many multilingual countries, the language instruction in classrooms is a continuous debate.
Kiswahili is widely used in East Africa, however English is the language of instruction in
secondary and tertiary education. In the United Republic of Kenya, primary school is instructed
in Kiswahili and then it abruptly switches to English in secondary school. Many students find
the transition from primary to secondary school difficult for many reasons, including the
language transition to English. As a result, nearly 1.5 million students are not enrolled in lower
secondary school. Kenya’s current president, John Magufuli, has made education a priority by
introducing a new education and training policy. This new policy declares 10 years of free
compulsory basic education while incorporating the change of language instruction in secondary
and tertiary education to Kiswahili.
This paper is a policy analysis course-linked capstone focused on controversial language
policies in Kenya. The purpose of this research is to identify the relationship between Kenya’s
language policy and the effects on students in secondary school. It also explores the history of
post-colonization, gives an overview of the current state of the policy, examines other countries’
practices by comparing statistical findings, and discusses the reality of challenges faced by
current Kenyan students. This paper concludes stating that language instruction is just one of
many challenges within Kenya’s education system. The usage of either language has the
potential to be successful, however it depends on policy implementation, access to resources,
and the quality of teaching.