Language, Development Aid and Human Rights inEducation

Palgrave Studies in Global Citizenship Education and Democracy

Series Editor: Jason Laker, San Jose University, USA

This series will engage with the theoretical and practical debates regarding cit-izenship, human rights education, social inclusion, and individual and groupidentities as they relate to the role of higher and adult education on an inter-national scale. Books in the series will consider hopeful possibilities for thecapacity of higher and adult education to enable citizenship, human rights,democracy and the common good, including emerging research and interest-ing and effective practices. It will also participate in and stimulate deliberationand debate about the constraints, barriers and sources and forms of resistanceto realizing the promise of egalitarian Civil Societies. The series will facili-tate continued conversation on policy and politics, curriculum and pedagogy,review and reform, and provide a comparative overview of the different con-ceptions and approaches to citizenship education and democracy around theworld.

Titles include:

Zehlia Babaci-WilhiteLANGUAGE, DEVELOPMENT AID AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN EDUCATIONCurriculum Policies in Africa and Asia

Jason Laker, Kornelija Mrnjaus and Concepción Naval (editors)CITIZENSHIP, DEMOCRACY AND HIGHER EDUCATION INEUROPE, CANADA AND THE USA

Jason Laker, Kornelija Mrnjaus and Concepción Naval (editors)CIVIC PEDAGOGIES IN HIGHER EDUCATIONTeaching for Democracy in Europe, Canada and the USA

Marcella Milana and Tom NesbitGLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON ADULT EDUCATION AND LEARNING POLICY

Palgrave Studies in Global Citizenship Education and DemocracySeries Standing Order ISBN 978–1–137–43357–2 Hardback978–1–137–43358–9 Paperback(outside North America only)

You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing astanding order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write tous at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series andthe ISBN quoted above.

Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

Language, DevelopmentAid and Human Rightsin EducationCurriculum Policies in Africa and Asia

Zehlia Babaci-WilhiteGraduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, USA andNorwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, Norway

© Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite 2015Foreword © Martin Carnoy 2015Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-47318-9All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of thispublication may be made without written permission.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmittedsave with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licencepermitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

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First published 2015 byPALGRAVE MACMILLAN

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ISBN 978-1-349-56484-2 ISBN 978-1-137-47319-6 (eBook)DOI 10.1057/9781137473196This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fullymanaged and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturingprocesses are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of thecountry of origin.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataBabaci-Wilhite, Zehlia.

Language, development aid and human rights in education : curriculumpolicies in Africa and Asia / Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite.

pages cm. — (Palgrave studies in global citizenship education anddemocracy)Summary: “With a Foreword by Martin Carnoy. The debate aboutlanguages of instruction in Africa and Asia involves an analysis of both thehistorical thrust of national government and also development aid policies.Using case studies from Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, India,Bangladesh and Malaysia, Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite argues that the coloniallegacy is perpetuated when global languages are promoted in education. Theuse of local languages in instruction not only offers an effective means tocontextualize the curriculum and improve student comprehension, but alsoto achieve quality education and rights in education. Evidence that scienceliteracy is better served through local languages and adapted to local contextsis put forward with a new vision for science learning that invests cutting edgetechnologies with local context. This vision is crucial to the African and Asiandevelopment on their own terms and should take its rightful place as ahuman right in education” — Provided by publisher.

1. Native language and education—Africa. 2. Native language andeducation—Asia. 3. Science—Study and teaching—Africa. 4. Science—Study and teaching—Asia. 5. Right to education—Africa. 6. Rightto education—Asia. I. Title.LC201.7.A35B33 2015372.65—dc23 2015019858

To the voiceless children deprived of learning in the languagethey know best, and thus deprived of their rights to quality

education

I hope this book will contribute to the empowerment of allchildren

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Contents

List of Illustrations x

Foreword by Martin Carnoy xii

Acknowledgments xvi

List of Acronyms xviii

Maps xx

1 Introduction: The Paradigm Shift in LanguageChoices in Education 1Colonial languages 2Globalizing English 3Local languages as cultural capital 7Organization of the book 10

2 Educational Issues in Africa and Asia 14Dependency in language imperialism 14Globalization and commodification of education 19Education for self-reliance and empowerment

as capability approach 21

3 Development Aid in Education 27Historical background of development aid 28

The challenge for education aid 31Aid effectiveness in education 33

4 Educational Aid in a Human Rights Perspective 39Human rights in educational aid 39A paradigm shift in local language and educational aid 41

Human rights in aid for sustainable transformationand development 46

vii

viii Contents

5 A Rights-Based Approach in North–South AcademicCollaboration within the Context of DevelopmentAid 48Norwegian aid in education for development 49

Historical collaboration between Norwegian andAfrican Universities 51

The Norwegian master’s program 52A new model for institutional and transformation

research outreach 53The Norwegian higher education program 58Future alternatives and challenges 61

6 Linguistic Rights for Appropriate Developmentin Education 67The background of linguistic rights 67The 4As: Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability

and Adaptability 76Language in education as a human right 79

7 Language-in-Education Policy 86A comparative study of Tanzania and Nigeria 87A comparative study of Zanzibar and Malaysia 96

8 Experiences in Countries That Have Chosen Englishas the Language of Instruction 108The case of India 109The case of South Africa 112The case of Bangladesh 114The case of Rwanda 116

9 Science Literacy and Mathematics as a Human Right 121The role of language in science literacy 121The use of English and its impact in science

and mathematics 126

10 Conclusions and Recommendations: LocalLanguages and Knowledge for SustainableDevelopment 135Bringing technology to the human rights in education

agenda 141

Contents ix

Reversing the current trend in the digital age 142Lesson learned from using digital learning 143

Notes 146

Bibliography 148

Index 173

Illustrations

Maps

1 Africa xx2 Asia xxi

Tables

6.1 Human rights conventions 686.2 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 716.3 Global human rights standards regarding language 736.4 Conceptual framework 776.5 The 4-A Scheme 799.1 The new curriculum timetable in Zanzibar 129

Figures

1.1 Children’s punishment when they speak theirlanguage in school 6

7.1 A school in Tanzania 877.2 A school in Nigeria 907.3 Photo of a poster in a classroom in Zanzibar 987.4 All interviewees’ answers regarding the curriculum

change 997.5 Urban and rural teachers’ answers regarding the

curriculum change 997.6 All interviewees’ answers regarding the curriculum

focus on quality of teaching and learning 1007.7 Urban and rural teachers’ answers regarding the

curriculum focus on quality of teaching and learning 1007.8 All interviewees’ answers regarding the preparation for

this change in teaching and learning through Englishas a LoI in science and mathematics 101

x

List of Illustrations xi

7.9 Urban and rural teachers’ answers regarding thepreparation for this change in teaching and learningthrough English as a LoI in science and mathematics 101

Foreword

Africa and Asia were already linked to the Mediterranean and theMiddle East by Arab and European traders well before the era ofPortuguese exploration began in the 15th century. However, in the17th and 18th centuries, as European colonization of much of theworld brought much of Africa and Asia (and all of the Americas)under European domination to serve European economic and cul-tural interests, being “part of the world” changed drastically. Africansand Asians became subjugated, dehumanized actors in their ownsocieties.

The massive expansion of the slave trade and the colonization thateventually ensued introduced Africans to a new set of conditionsas part of the development of European plantation agriculture andtrade with the Americas. When the slave trade ended in the 19thcentury, the colonizers in some parts of Africa began the “task” of“civilizing” Africans, introducing them to European culture and toagricultural and mining production. This included defining territo-rial space designed to accommodate competitive European colonialimperial needs (for example, between British Sierra Leone and FrenchGuinea, between British Kenya and German Tanzania, and in SouthAfrica, between competing settler groups). It also included bringingEuropean education to a limited number of Africans, an educationthat was necessarily in a European language and generally involvedconverting Africans to a European version of Christianity.

In much of Asia, the process – minus formal slavery – was similar.English, French, Spanish and Dutch colonization installed plantationagriculture (cotton, rubber, tea, palm) in India (including East Bengal,now Bangladesh), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Malaya and Indonesia,and Indochina, just to mention the major colonies. Local culturewas deprecated and industry (such as cotton textile manufacturingin India) was essentially eliminated by forcing the importation ofmanufactured goods from the colonizing countries. Again, Europeaneducation was brought to a limited number of Asians, largely in aEuropean language, and although religious conversion was less of

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Foreword xiii

an objective in South Asia and Indonesia, it was important in somecolonies, notably the Philippines and Indochina.

It has only been seven decades since the colonies began becoming“independent” of European control. Average levels of education inmost African and Asian countries have increased substantially anduniversities have greatly expanded enrollment. However, while thequantity of education has expanded, quality has remained low inAfrica and South Asia, and even parts of Southeast Asia, notablyIndonesia, constrained by shortages of well-trained teachers, short-ages that are exacerbated by the continued dominance of Europeanlanguage instruction in most countries at the secondary and uni-versity levels and the large variety of local languages spoken in theterritories of many African and Asian nations. In former Frenchcolonies in Africa, it is not uncommon in the early grades of primaryschool to see more than a hundred pupils sitting on an earth floor,being taught French by a single teacher. The pupils, in turn, have nomore than an ardoise – a small chalkboard – and a piece of chalk towrite down the teacher’s lessons from the blackboard. In India andBangladesh schools are also crowded, with teachers often absent, andpupils learn little.

This is not the worst of it. Some areas of Africa (and even Asia,Sri Lanka and Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, for example) have beenracked by years of war or inter-tribal massacres in which children areused as soldiers and others are killed or orphaned by the violencethat has marked their lives. There are also waves of malnutrition asdrought visits one area, then another. In some regions, such as South-ern Africa, the AIDS virus has infected more than a quarter of thepopulation, including many children and teachers.

Nevertheless, with the help of international organizations suchas UNESCO and the World Bank, and the many non-governmentalorganizations – some with private funding, many with individualgovernment funding, and others working as “sub-contractors” for theWorld Bank – a wide variety of efforts have been sustained over manyyears in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia to confronthealth issues and to expand and improve education at all levels.

The “new globalization” in Africa and Asia, at least as expressedin these health and education services, is therefore a complex phe-nomenon that has simultaneously helped tens of millions of Africansand Asians combat widespread disease associated with common

xiv Foreword

parasites and helped enable access to cheap drugs that fight off theAIDS virus, yet also has continued to “infect” Africa and much of Asiawith destructive violence and corruption because of the continuedlegacy of colonialism.

The efforts to expand and improve education inevitably are partof this complexity. Almost every child now gets a primary educationin South Asia and many Eastern and Southern African countries, andoverall in India and sub-Saharan Africa more than 70% finish primaryschool. But the overall gross enrollment rate in secondary school isstill low, around 40%, although that proportion is higher in manycountries of Asia and some countries of Africa. Yet, in neighboring SriLanka and in another former British colony, Malaysia, almost 100%of youth complete primary education, and about 80% finish lowersecondary school. There is no doubt that for those who are able tofinish secondary school and the smaller group that goes on to uni-versity, the economic and social horizon expands. Gradually, as well,more access to education has helped women in Africa and Asia makeimportant gains, and many of the organizations involved in the newglobalization have promoted these gains.

This liberating aspect of globalization through health and educa-tion initiatives is, however, set in the context of a globalization thathas made Africa the scene of violent political struggles to controlresources that have relatively little value for Africans. It is set in thecontext of a globalization that has increased inequality, and that, inturn, has contributed to these violent political struggles. In South andSoutheast Asia, inequality is also increasing, and despite quite highrates of economic growth, India and Bangladesh, with their hugepopulations, are still marked by massive poverty.

The new globalization is not the old colonialism, even thoughmany of its aspects have the distinct look of colonialism. The man-agers of the new globalization in Africa and Asia are definitelyAfricans and Asians, many of them developmentalists, many whowant higher-quality and more education in their countries. Theyhave the assistance of bilateral and international advisors to helpthem achieve their goals.

How do the education policies designed to improve literacy andnumeracy play into the larger globalization context, including intoits most negative aspects of increased inequality and resource andhuman exploitation? How, in turn, are both international reformers

Foreword xv

and Africans and Asians – particularly South Asians – caught up increating educational systems that have difficulty delivering meaning-ful learning to Indian, Bangladeshi and African pupils, even as theyprovide greatly increased access to schooling in those systems?

These are the great dilemmas of education within the new glob-alization in Africa and Asia. Good education relies on coherentcommunity and state goals. It relies on states with a firm commit-ment to develop good teachers – teachers who have those communityand state goals at the forefront of their mission to make learningmeaningful and exciting to the children and adolescents in theircharge. Despite their well-intentioned efforts to create this kind ofeducational project, international reforming agencies cannot escapeeducational structures organized to reproduce highly unequal andusually dysfunctional outcomes.

What it takes to emerge from these constraints requires muchthought. This book is a step in that direction. Zehlia Babaci-Wilhiteexamines brilliantly how educational systems and education itselfcan respond in a more authentic and relevant way to children’s learn-ing in the context of the new globalization in Africa and in Asia fromthe ground up, one issue at a time, reflecting on how different aspectsof educational reform in Africa and Asia do not necessarily improveeducation, and why that may be the case.

Martin CarnoyVida Jacks Professor of Education

Stanford Graduate School of Education

Acknowledgments

I am sincerely thankful to Professor Jason A. Laker who inspired meto write a successor to my previous book and who provided great sup-port with excellent feedback throughout. I am also sincerely thankfulto my colleagues who graciously welcomed me at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and provided me with wonderful opportunitiesto develop this book. I thank my sponsor, Professor P. David Pearson,for his generous time and inclusion, and Professors Jabari Mahiri,G. Ugo Nwokeji and Sam Mchombo for their endless support, whichis far beyond what words can express. Thanks to Jacqueline Barber,Traci K. Wierman and Alestra F. Menendez from the Lawrence Hallof Science. It has been a great pleasure to work with you and I amtruly appreciative of your efforts to facilitate my work. Thanks alsoto Professor Macleans A. Geo-JaJa, who mentored my progress duringthe course of writing several chapters.

I want to acknowledge as well my colleagues and friends inNorway, Tanzania, Nigeria, the USA and all over the world fortheir support, especially Professors Birgit Brock-Utne, Inga Bostad,Ola Erstad, Robert F. Arnove, Abel Ishumi, Jerome I. Okonkwo,Steve Azaiki, Dr William Bright-Taylor, Azaveli Lwaitama, MwajumaVuzo, Jane Bakahwemama, Maryam Ismail, Kimmo Kosonen, IfeomaObuasi, Nwobuoka Winifried Obioha Kanu, Julia Obioha and EleanorChristie.

To the colleagues and students who inspired me at the Univer-sity of Oslo, the University of Dar-es-Salaam, the State University ofZanzibar, the University of California, Berkeley, the Imo State Univer-sity, the International Society of Comparative Education, Science andTechnology of Nigeria and the University of San Francisco, thank youvery much, asante sana and ndeewo.

I am extremely grateful to the people of Zanzibar, Tanzania andNigeria who contributed to my work: the headmasters, teachers, lec-turers, government officials, students and friends who gratefully gaveof their time, facilitated my research during the fieldwork and sub-sequently corresponded with me via email. A special thanks to Ali

xvi

Acknowledgments xvii

Mwalimu from the University of Zanzibar and Joyce, a wonderfulhead teacher with excellent staff – asante sana for your specialattention to my work.

To the many dear colleagues, students, friends, family, thank youvery much for all of the genuine support throughout the writing ofthis book.

To my family Kahena J. Wilhite, Alexandre Y. Wilhite, Paul K.Wilhite and Hal L. Wilhite, as well as Louisa Babaci, Hamama Babaciand Fatima Babaci for their support in many different ways, whodeserve extraordinary recognition, merci beaucoup.

Zehlia Babaci-WilhiteBerkeley, California

April 2015

Acronyms

ADEA Association for the Development of Education inAfrica

BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South AfricaCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyCRC Committee on the Rights of the ChildDAC Development Assistance CommitteeDFID Department for International DevelopmentEFA Education for AllGDP Gross Domestic ProductIBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and

DevelopmentICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political

RightsICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural RightsICT Information Communication and TechnologyIMF International Monetary FundLingua franca Languages of wider communication, often

cross-border languagesLoI Language of Instruction (synonyms: MoI/MoE)LOITASA Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South

AfricaMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMoEVT Ministry of Education and Vocational TrainingMT Mother TongueNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationNOMA Norad’s Programme for Master StudiesNorad Norwegian Agency for Development CooperationNORHED Norwegian Programme for Capacity Building in

Higher Education and Research for DevelopmentNUCOOP Norwegian University Cooperation Programme

for Capacity Development in SudanNUFU Norwegian Programme for Development,

Research and Education

xviii

List of Acronyms xix

ODA Official Development AssistanceOECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

DevelopmentOSC Orientation to Secondary ClassPITRO Programme for Institutional Transformation,

Research and OutreachPRIP Pew Research Internet ProjectREDD Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation in Developing CountriesSADC Southern African Development CommitteeSAP Structural Adjustment ProgramsSIU Norwegian Centre for International

Collaboration in Higher EducationSYPP Six-Year Primary ProjectTANU Tanganyika African National UnionUDHR Universal Declaration of Human RightsUNDP United Nations Development ProgramUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural OrganizationUNICEF United Nations International Children’s

Emergency FundUPE Universal Primary EducationURT United Republic of TanzaniaZEDP Zanzibar Education Development Plan

Maps

The UnitedRepublic ofTanzania

Rwanda

Nigeria

South Africa

Zanzibar

Map 1 Africa

xx