Back to Page
Authors: Jean Paul Ngoboka, Sigfrid Maniraho, Epimaque Niyibizi
Keywords: Kinyarwanda, policies, strategies, methodology, language proficiency, medium of instruction
Abstract: Since 1994, English became the third official language in Rwanda. This was adding to Kinyarwanda and French, the two co-official languages that have been used since independence in 1962. However, in contradiction to this new status, most Rwandans’ level of proficiency in English was then described as low; and this complaint gained momentum in 2008 when English became the sole medium of instruction. Ever since then, concerns have been expressed not only about low English proficiency among students at all levels of instruction, but also among primary and secondary school teachers, and even among university graduates. In this regard, a number of solutions have been attempted. On the side of the government, these attempts to address the issue included notably the organization of nation-wide trainings and the establishment of school-based mentorship programs, both aimed at improving primary and secondary school teachers’ proficiency in English as well as their teaching methodology. On the other hand, other non-government initiatives were also taken to address the issue. Nonetheless, all these initiatives don’t seem to have produced the desired outcomes since people still voice their complaints, and their concerns are corroborated by various surveys such as the one conducted in 2009 (Rwanda English in Action Programme cited in MINEDUC 2010) which indicates that most teachers’ (as many as 85%) proficiency in English was below the intermediate level. Today the situation described above still persists to a great extent; and failure to improve teachers’ and students’ proficiency in English could be attributed to non-observance of a number of determining factors. The paper aims to explore such factors and propose strategies to definitely address the issue of low English language proficiency in Rwanda.