From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


All Africa News Agency 20/03 May 26 2003 (c)


From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Tue, 27 May 2003 17:16:13 -0700

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya.  Tel: 254-2-4442215,
4440224
Fax: 254-2-4445847, 4443241; Email: aanaapta@insightkenya.com , 
aanaapta@hotmail.com

AANA BULLETIN No. 20/03 - May 26, 2003 (c)

AANA Bulletin is an ecumenical initiative to highlight all endeavours and 
experiences of Christians and the people of Africa.  AANA Bulletin is 
published weekly and, together with the French Edition - Bulletin APTA - is 
also available through e-mail.	For editorial and subscription details, 
please contact: 

AANA Bulletin						Bulletin APTA
  Editor -Elly Wamari						Editor -
Silvie Alemba

First Group Of Persecuted Bantus Finally Depart For US

NAIROBI (AANA) May 26 - The first group of 74 Somali Bantus heading for 
resettlement in the United States of America (USA), finally left Nairobi 
May 20 and 21.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the group 
had travelled from Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya to Nairobi on May 
11 and 12, where they were accommodated until their departure last week.

"There is a tremendous sense of excitement throughout the community. They 
have been waiting for this moment for years," said IOM cultural orientation 
teacher, Sasha Chanoff, in a statement.

A persecuted minority of rural farmers in their home country, Somali Bantus 
fled Somalia's civil war in 1991 and 1992 and found refuge in Kenya's 
camps, where they met renewed persecution at the hands of other Somali 
refugees.

In 1999, the US government recognised their plight and pledged to resettle 
close to 12,000 residing in Dadaab refugee camp, and more than 500 
accommodated in Kakuma camp.

In 2002, due to Dadaab's nearness to Somalia, the US government made an 
unprecedented decision to move all the selected Dadaab-based Somali Bantus 
to Kakuma camp, near the Sudanese border in north-western Kenya.

The IOM, in collaboration with other NGOs, constructed an additional 
refugee camp in Kakuma, with 2,700 mud-brick shelters, pit latrines, a 
water point and road infrastructure, as well as a US refugee processing 
centre, complete with interview rooms, a medical clinic and X-ray 
machine.  Cultural orientation classrooms for the Bantus were also put up.

US refugee processing began in September 2002 and by the end of November, 
some 1,500 had been accepted for resettlement.	However, newly instituted 
refugee security checks delayed departures.

The 74 who left last week, have undergone intensive cultural orientation 
courses. The orientation included US laws, employment, housing, cultural 
adjustment and day-to-day modern way of life.

According to information from IOM, an additional 150 of the Somali Bantus 
will follow their colleagues before mid June.

Reported by Muuna Wamuli

Controversy Emerges Over Local Language Ban In School

BLANTYRE (AANA) May 26 - Officials of  St. Andrew's international high 
school in Blantyre have denied allegations that students in the school were 
being forced to speak European languages only and not any ethnic language, 
within the school's premises.

The headmaster of the school, Roger Dallimore, was reacting to a report 
that parents and students were angered by an order stopping them from 
speaking local languages, including the national vernacular language, 
Chichewa. They said this deprived them of their rights and freedom of 
expression.

The parents condemned what they described as a rule under which school 
authorities punished and threatened with expulsion, any student found 
speaking any language other than English, French and other European
languages.

But Dallimore challenged the parents, saying they were misinformed by their 
children.

He expressed disappointment that they had decided to go to the media before 
approaching the management of the school for clarifications on the issue, 
which according to him, was a common practice in schools in Blantyre.

The headmaster clarified that since 1958, when the school was established, 
its rule had been that students should speak only English within school 
premises.

He explained further that the reason was not that English was better than 
Afrikaan spoken in South Africa, Chichewa, French or Italian, but that it 
was a common language which, more importantly, did not exclude anybody.

But some students said they would love to speak Chichewa freely but the 
rule forbade them from doing so.

However, a human rights activists, Mrs. Festus Chirwa from Women's Lobby 
and Rights Group, said the move by the school was good as it improved the 
learning process of English.

She said that every school had its own rules, therefore parents must follow 
them especially when they promised to abide by them.

Chirwa challenged the parents to choose between allowing their children to 
stay or to leave the school silently.  "As a human rights activist, I 
support the use of English in schools," said Chirwa.

Linguists believe at least Chichewa, which is also widely spoken in Zambia 
as well as Zimbabwe, should be encouraged just as Kiswahili is in Eastern 
Africa.

This view is supported by parliamentarians who think Chichewa should be 
spoken alongside English during the business of the National Assembly, for 
more clarity on issues of national importance.

At a workshop which was funded by a German aid agency GTZ Malawi, titled 
"Bridge Building" in the capital Lilongwe, members of parliament and civil 
society came up with ten resolutions in which usage of Chichewa language 
during parliament sessions was recommended.

However, the constitution of Malawi is silent over usage of Chichewa 
language in parliament.

According to the Director of Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), 
Nandini Patel, who is also lecturer at Chancellor College of the University 
of Malawi, there is a stereotypical problem that grips the society of 
today, that one who communicates in vernacular language is not educated and 
that most of the parliamentarians are used to speaking English during their 
debates.

Reported by Hamilton Vokhiwa

Plans Underway To Expand Bilingual Primary Education

OUAGADOUGOU (AANA) May 26 - Education experts in Burkina Faso have called 
for nation-wide implementation of bilingual education in the country.

They have accordingly urged the government to work out a strategy and a 
plan of action for introducing use of local as well as foreign languages in 
all schools.

"We are going to create adequate conditions for a geographical and 
linguistic extension of the bilingual approach, but we are not going to 
force people to accept it," Minister for Basic Education and Literacy, 
Mathieu Ouedraogo, responded at the end of a three-day workshop (May 8-10).

According to statistics of an experimental phase of the system in 1994, 85 
percent of children in Class Six in bilingual primary schools pass their 
certificate exams, while the national average is 62 percent.

"The fact that a school is using a language mastered by the children, 
accelerates the apprenticeship and makes easy the comprehension of what is 
taught," explained Paul Ilboudo, chairman of Oeuvre Suisse d'Entraide 
Ouvrihre, a non-governmental organisation promoting bilingual education in 
the country.

The system is also expected to create an increase in school enrolment rate 
in rural areas, where intake is often as low as 12 percent.  Current 
national school enrolment rate is 40 percent. The government is intending 
to attain a rate of 70 percent by 2010 through a 10-year plan, launched 
last year.

Reported by Brahima Ouedraogo

Striking Teachers Vow To Continue Pushing For Better Pay

HARARE (AANA) May 26 - A national strike by Zimbabwean teachers, lecturers 
and other staff within the Ministry of Education, is threatening to cripple 
the country's education sector.

Teachers have been on strike since schools opened on May 8, to push the 
Public Service Commission (PSC) to address disparities between their 
salaries and other civil servants.

A labour court on May 19 ruled that the government should be given 21 days 
to resolve the teachers' grievances.

Teachers here earn an average Z$75 000 (1US$ = Z$824) a month, while other 
civil servants earn twice as much.

Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) is calling for a major 
overhaul of the teachers' pay package, saying each should get a minimum of 
Z$258 000 per month.

PTUZ has also called on their members to honour the court's decision that 
they return to work, but it added that they would then embark on a go-slow.

The union's general secretary, Raymond Majongwe, said: "The Labour Court's 
ruling is inconsequential because we are not prepared to wait 21 days of 
further marginalisation and pauperisation."

The latest teachers strike is the second in about six months after a 
similar strike last year, which threatened to bring the country's first 
locally set examination to a halt.

The strike comes against a background of a sharp rise in the cost of 
living.  Inflation figures released recently showed that the year-on-year 
rate of inflation for April was at 269, up from 228 in March.

Reported by Namutatanga Makombe


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home