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------------------ UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Kishore Singh stated last week: "Without well trained and motivated teachers, without access to adequate pedagogical materials and without any capacity to teach in mother tongue languages at primary levels, the impact of increased enrolment will be limited." In a conference on Languages and Development in Dakar last month, Fary Silate Kâ, president of the Senegalese Academy of National Languages highlighted the fact that most children in Senegal are not taught in their first languages http://www.aps.sn/aps.php?page=articles&id_article=74862 What kind of assistance can scholars, especially specialists in Senegalese ("mother tongue") languages, offer to address this situation? What might be the appropriate way(s) of linking with Senegal to help develop materials and teaching capacity in Senegalese languages? It occurs that there are resources outside of Senegal and potential avenues: * Documentation on the languages in question, which might be more easily accessed in Northern university libraries than in Africa. This is a point that might be debated, but my impression from research is that publications about Africa (including its languages and linguistics) are more complete and accessible in the US university library network * Expertise and combinations of expertise outside of Senegal that arguably is complementary to that in the country. Aside from Senegalese scholars, education experts, and other professionals working abroad, there are also scholars and other professionals with knowledge of the country and its languages. Among them it is possible that there are people with expertise and resources in areas of pedagogy, publication, and digital resources, along with a basic (if not native-speaker) knowledge of Senegalese languages who could also contribute to devising and implementing strategies for developing materials and training strategies for those languages in education. * There is significant development assistance to Senegal from donors and NGOs, including in the area of expanding basic and advanced education. Has there been any review of their level of attention to, and indeed capacities deal with, Senegalese languages? This would seem to be one key area that could be addressed (if it hasn't been already) by scholars in and outside of Senegal. * Several of the languages in Senegal are "cross-border" languages (this is of course common in Africa, given the way borders were drawn, and is an area that has been specifically mentioned by among others, former Malian president and chair of the AU Commission). Scholars and other professionals with expertise in West Africa would seem to facilitate connections and assist resource sharing among neighboring countries developing educational material and building capacity in the same or closely related languages that cross their frontiers. It would be very interesting to hear from others on this topic. Education in Africa is the regular subject of studies, criticisms, and assistance, but the issue of first language (& bilingual) approaches to and resources for schools there seems to be one where needs and resources are not meeting.
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