Translating science books into Kinyarwanda not the solution

Editor, RE: “Translate science books into Kinyarwanda” (The New Times, January 22). I am in full support of the idea to translate science books into Kinyarwanda. And, practically, instead of expecting an eventual action from future generations, why can’t the education minster initiate the policy of resuscitating the value of Kinyarwanda — one of our major assets — in all schooling curricula, at all school levels across the country? Francois-Xavier Nziyonsenga **************************** I commend patriotism expressed by fellow Rwandans, but I don’t think it is very practical to translate all the manuals into Kinyarwanda. Let us face it: we don’t have the money or the personnel to do this. Moreover this experiment was tried by Tanzania under Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. It was not a success. Tanzania has since reverted to English instruction starting with the secondary school level. Abdul-Rahman Ntaganda asked what country excelled in science using a foreign language. Did you know that the language of instruction in Singapore is English? Northern Europe has an English proficiency index of 65 per cent or more. This is where Linux, Ericsson, Skype, Spotify…are coming from. Do you think it is coincidence? Even the very French “Institut Pasteur” is publishing its research in English now. Rashid Swaleh

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Translating science books into Kinyarwanda not the solution