Language in education policy debates in Africa today

Abstract

Through critical research methods using document analysis, this study investigated the current Language in Education Policy (LiEP) debates in Africa. There are many such debates going on across the continent but the literature available is very thin. Three multilingual African countries; the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Congo and Islamic Republic of Mauritania were selected for the study. The study found out that, colonial languages are dominant and are the languages mainly used as media of instruction in schools and languages of assessment in the sampled countries. Although three countries were selected, the debates are not any different in the rest of the African countries. The findings of this research are generalisable to the situation across the entire continent thus critical in influencing future LiEP on the continent. It is imperative to note that, the use of colonial languages in education should not be at the expense of African languages.