{"id":79118,"date":"2024-10-23T17:56:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili"},"modified":"2024-10-23T17:56:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:56:00","slug":"namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","title":{"rendered":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The education ministry says various schools countrywide have expressed an interest in teaching Mandarin as a subject.<\/b><\/p>\n

This comes as the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has shelved plans to introduce Kiswahili in schools.<\/p>\n

Kiswahili is a widely spoken language across central and East Africa, with Namibia and Tanzania engaging in recent years to introduce the language in local schools.<\/p>\n

Discussions began in July 2019, when Tanzanian former president the late John Magufuli proposed the introduction of the language locally as part of the joint permanent commission between the two countries.<\/p>\n

The plan was supposed to be implemented in 2021, however, this did not happen amid rejection from political parties and schools.<\/p>\n

At the time, The Namibian reported that teachers were not keen on having the language taught in local schools.<\/p>\n

National Institute for Educational Development director Patrick Simalumba told The Namibian yesterday that Mandarin is already being taught in some local schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had requests already for Mandarin, which is already running in schools over the past 10 years.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Simalumba, the reason the teaching of Kiswahili has been put on hold is because there are many requests for local languages to be taught in schools.<\/p>\n

He says there have been requests from the Kavango regions and western Caprivi.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, it\u2019s not only local languages. Even European languages and others from Asia.<\/p>\n

For example, we have a request for Spanish to be introduced, which we received last year,\u201d Simalumba adds.<\/p>\n

According to Simalumba, in the long run students could be sent to be trained in foreign languages.<\/p>\n

He says the issue of piloting a new language requires mobilising the community to demonstrate sufficient interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you pilot, you have to mobilise the community so that there is interest. And then out of this interest, you will get pilot schools, maybe to run the implementation of that language on a trial basis,\u201d Simalumba says.<\/p>\n

Patrick Simalumba<\/p>\n

Education executive director Sanet Steenkamp says the piloting of Kiswahili at a school revealed many challenges, such as material production.<\/p>\n

According to Steenkamp, an assessment of interest was also conducted. She says in order for a pilot to be successful, the ministry needs to have a sufficient number of interested individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou assess if there is any interest from specific groups of pupils, because you need to start with 35 pupils to have a class size.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says some schools have Mandarin, French and German, as well as Portuguese.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you must understand that when approached, we look at the feasibility,\u201d Steenkamp says.<\/p>\n

Dorthea Nangolo<\/p>\n

CULTURE SHOCK<\/p>\n

Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) president Dorthea Nangolo says introducing foreign languages in schools is worrisome because young people are losing touch with local cultures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s quite worrisome, introduce foreign languages and ignore local languages, primarily because as it is now, our pupils are losing touch with our cultures. Our generation or the younger generation is no longer in touch with their culture and tradition,\u201d Nangolo says.<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Nangolo, an ideal education system would be one that teaches local languages in whatever part of the country you are in.<\/p>\n

For example, if a pupil is from the Omaheke region or Kunene region, then it would be expected that they learn Otjiherero at school, as well as English, because it is the country\u2019s official language.<\/p>\n

She, however, says pupils learning German or French have better opportunities globally, particularly in terms of working in international spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou realise that people who can speak foreign languages have a better chance at these opportunities,\u201d Nangolo says.<\/p>\n

According to Nangolo, Nanso believes communities should not lose touch with local cultures and Namibia\u2019s education system should be able to teach pupils in their home languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not lose our culture, our education system must be able to teach us our traditional languages because what happens now is in the next 50 years, we\u2019re going to lose these languages, and only English, German, and maybe French will be spoken, because our children now can only speak these languages,\u201d Nangolo says.<\/p>\n

Teachers Union of Namibia secretary general Mahongora Kavihuha says the introduction of foreign languages will marginalise local cultures and languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, we are looking at the exercise from a resources perspective and from a cultural perspective. Already now, if you look at our local languages, there is a huge marginalisation already taking place and the excuses are the issue of resources,\u201d Kavihuha says.<\/p>\n

He says if the ministry has settled on not introducing Kiswahili in schools, it is a welcome move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be realistic and deal with the matters that we are able to deal with,\u201d Kavihuha adds.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The education ministry says various schools countrywide have expressed an interest in teaching Mandarin as a subject. This comes as the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has shelved plans to introduce Kiswahili in schools. Kiswahili is a widely spoken language across central and East Africa, with Namibia and Tanzania engaging in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":79117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-79118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nNamibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Namibia. The education ministry says various schools countrywide have expressed an interest in teaching Mandarin as a subject. This comes as the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has shelved plans to introduce Kiswahili in schools. Kiswahili is a widely spoken language across central and East Africa, with Namibia and Tanzania engaging in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\"},\"wordCount\":792,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\",\"name\":\"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg\",\"width\":751,\"height\":451,\"caption\":\"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili - Namibia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili","og_description":"Africa-Press – Namibia. The education ministry says various schools countrywide have expressed an interest in teaching Mandarin as a subject. This comes as the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has shelved plans to introduce Kiswahili in schools. Kiswahili is a widely spoken language across central and East Africa, with Namibia and Tanzania engaging in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00","author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili","datePublished":"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili"},"wordCount":792,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","culture and art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili","name":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-23T17:56:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1729693607.272777.jpg","width":751,"height":451,"caption":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibian-schools-favour-mandarin-over-kiswahili#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Namibian schools favour Mandarin over Kiswahili"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}