肯尼亞的小學教育語言水平下降

Results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations are headline news Thursday in Nairobi, showing top academic performances. Amid the jubilation, however, there are concerns about Kenyan students' declining performances in English and Ki'Swahili, as compared to other African countries. Also noteworthy - the fourth-best student in the country is a refugee from South Sudan.

星期四，在非洲國家肯尼亞，小學教育畢業考覈的結果成了報紙的頭版頭條新聞，考試成績最佳的學生都榜上有名。不過，在慶祝之餘，也有 一些擔憂，那就是和非洲其他地區的學生比起來，肯尼亞學生的英語和斯瓦希里語成績不太好。與此同時，大家還都注意到，在這次考試中名列第四名的學生是一位來自南蘇丹的難民的孩子。

Minister of Education Sam Ongeri was quoted as saying he thinks the primary school system’s relatively poor performance in Kenya’s two official languages, Ki’Swahili and English, is due to Kenyans’ heavy use of a language called “sheng” - slang terms especially popular among urban youth.

肯尼亞的教育部長說，依他所見，肯尼亞小學生在斯瓦希里和英語這兩門官方語言的考覈中，成績相對來講不是很好，主要是因爲肯尼亞人大量使用一種非官方的方言土語，而這種方言土語在城市地區的青少年當中，使用率尤其頻繁。

Sara Ruto is regional manager of Uwezo East Africa, a program to improve literacy and numeracy among children in Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda. She thinks students’ poor literacy performance is not due so much to sheng as it is to teachers using Ki’Swahili, English and their mother tongues all at the same time.

塞若·盧託是“東非作爲”項目的地區負責人，這一項目旨在提高肯尼亞、坦桑尼亞和烏干達這幾個國家兒童的語文和算數水平。盧託女士認爲，肯尼亞的小學生在語言測試方面成績不好的主要原因，不是說孩子們用當地的方言土語過多了，而是因爲老師在教課的時候，斯瓦希里、英語、以及當地的土話，都一塊兒說。

“Nobody is paying close attention to teaching whatever skills they [have], be they oral [or] written. So you’ll find a person will start speaking a sentence in English or Ki’Swahili, maybe pick a few words, [and] complete the sentence in another language. It means that we need to invest more in teaching a whole understanding, comprehension, of a language in its totality,” said Ruto.

盧託女士說：“沒有人在聽說讀寫方面，只是留心教授一種語言，不管是說，還是寫。往往是一句話裏面帶有好幾種不同的文字，英語和斯瓦希里語都攙雜在一塊兒，沒有說一句話用一種語言說完的，這一個字兒，那一個字兒的，用不同的語言給連接起來。我覺得，我們需要投入到完整地教授一種語言，從頭到尾地去理解、認識一種語言，應該從這兒開始。”

Tanzania takes top spot

Last year, the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, or SACMEQ, released a study ranking Kenya fifth out of 15 African countries on students’ reading ability. Top performers were Tanzania, Seychelles and Mauritius, while the bottom scorers were Zambia and Malawi.

去年，“南非和東非教育質量觀察”出臺了一份研究報告，並把各個國家進行了排名。在非洲地區的15個國家裏學生的閱讀水平方面，肯尼亞名列第五。排名在前面的是坦桑尼亞、塞舌爾、以及毛里求斯。排在最後的是贊比亞和馬拉維。

Uwezo’s Ruto explains why she thinks Tanzania is tops compared to Kenya.

“東非作爲”項目的盧託女士對坦桑尼亞如何能排在肯尼亞前面，給出了她的解釋。

“Their system has paid attention to Ki’Swahili. I think that if you have grasped the skill in one language, it is easier for you to grasp in another," she said. "In Tanzania, there are so many community newspapers. Ki’Swahili is spoken in most places - at home and then again at school. And so you will see there is a little bit more continuity. And also, the skill of reading: you can find it in many more places.”

她說：“在坦桑尼亞，他們對斯瓦希里語很重視。我覺得，真正掌握了一種語言之後，再學、再掌握另外一種語言，會相對容易。在坦桑尼亞，有很多地方報紙，而且無論是在家裏還是學校，大家都講斯瓦希里語，所以語言上沒有中斷。在閱讀方面，閱讀材料也比比皆是。”But some students still excel. Results of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations were on newspaper front pages Thursday all over Kenya, with pictures of students who earned top marks.

不過，即便是肯尼亞，也有一些學生成績依然很優秀。星期四，在小學畢業成績考覈中名列前茅的學生，不光名字登在了肯尼亞全國各地報紙的頭版，這些孩子的照片也都登上去了。

South Sudan refugee student shines

One picture stood out in particular: that of South Sudanese refugee Kuol Tito Yak, who lived in Kakuma Refugee Camp until joining Uthiru Genesis Primary school in Standard Three. He scored fourth overall, and the first in Kiambu County.

其中一個孩子的照片尤其突出；之所以突出，是因爲這個孩子是來自南蘇丹的難民的孩子，他的名字叫庫爾，長期住在當地的一個難民營裏，直到小學三年級才進到當地的一所小學上學。這個叫庫爾的孩子在肯尼亞的全國考試當中，名列第四，而且是所在地的頭一名。

Lual Dau is head of the Southern Sudanese Students’ Association in Kenya. He said, although he does not know Kuol personally, South Sudanese take education very seriously.

盧爾是肯尼亞境內南蘇丹學生聯合會的負責人。他說，雖然不認識庫爾，但是，來自南蘇丹的學生，對教育都很重視。

“We are going to reform the new country [South Sudan] - it will be through education, of what we learned. That is what we can take home because there is nothing in Southern Sudan,” said Lual.

盧爾說：“我們肩負着要重建國家的使命，而且只能是通過教育、只能是通過我們所學的重建國家。南蘇丹現在一窮二白，我們能帶回去的，只有我們在這兒學到的。”

The results highlighted other education trends. The top two students were from the capital Nairobi. Coastal area schools performed poorly. All top 10 positions were taken by students studying at private schools, and there are almost as many girls as boys in the primary school system overall.

肯尼亞的這次考試結果同時也突出了地方教育的其他一些走向。比如說，名列第一和第二的學生都來自首都內羅畢，而沿海地區的學生，成績則沒有那麼好。另外，名列前十名的學生，都是私立學校的學生。還有就是，在小學裏唸書的孩子，差不多是男女各半。