11th May 2022

In The Gambia, like many other post-colonial countries, education continues to be largely dominated by English, the language of its former coloniser. Since its Independence, the most long-lasting initiative to integrate Gambian languages in its education system has been an early parallel biliteracy programme. The latter, piloted in 2011, was rolled out nationwide in 2015. This biliteracy programme prescribes that Grade 1 to Grade 3 pupils have one hour of literacy instruction in one of seven national languages, followed by one hour of English literacy teaching daily. It was meant to address issues with the literacy of children identified by the 2007 Early Grade Reading Assessment but its implementation has faced numerous challenges, including but not limited to parental opposition for fear that pupils’ literacy in English would be undermined, the organisation of in-service and pre-service teacher training, and the fact that most Gambians cannot read and write in the Gambian languages they speak fluently.

In my talk, I will use ethnographic data and a series of over 20 interviews (ongoing) conducted with relevant stakeholders (educators, parents and pupils) since 2018 to explore in detail the various challenges the integration of Gambian languages in education faces. The paper will therefore help further understand why content learning continues to be difficult for the many Gambian children whose linguistic needs are not met while also providing insights into important nuances in the language in education landscape of The Gambia.