Introduction: The Paradigm Shift in Language Choices in Education

Abstract

In this book I explore the consequences of educational choices for quality education, self-determined development and children’s rights in education for democracy in some African and Asian countries. I review theory and educational practices involving the relationship between local knowledge and language of instruction (LoI), and especially their applications to teaching and implications for rights in education. I show that current educational reforms in some African and Asian countries are failing in their efforts to improve education and suggest how educational systems and education itself in these countries could respond to children’s learning from the ground up in a more authentic and relevant way. I also reflect on education policies designed to improve literacy and numeracy in the global context and the consequences of a failure of these policies for increased socioeconomic inequality. Further, the book addresses how international, Asian and African educational reformers are attempting to deliver meaningful learning to their pupils through expanding access to schooling and confronting the challenges of simultaneously improving student learning. These analyses draw on my extensive work and research experiences on educational systems and reforms in developing countries, both in Africa (the United Republic of Tanzania (URT), South Africa, Rwanda and Nigeria) and in Asia (Malaysia, India and Bangladesh).¹