Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Rwanda
Delegate Name: Janet O’Leary
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Rwanda position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
The issue of the preservation of endangered languages is of a special and unique interest to the country of Rwanda. An estimated 100% of the Rwandan population speaks the country’s indigenous language known as “Kinyarwanda” (with around 90% speaking only Kinyarwanda), while 8% of the country speaks French and only 4% of the country speaks English. With that said, Kinyarwanda is not commonly taught in any level of schooling past primary. Instead, Rwanda teaches French and English to students who choose to pursue a higher level of education. Recently, the country has declared that they will be making a national transition to adopting English as the country’s national language, attempting to eliminate Rwanda’s official association with Kinyarwanda and French in order to change the “national image”.
A national transition regarding Rwanda’s official language has the potential to create several problems for the citizens of Rwanda, one of which being social discrimination due to being thought of as “less educated”. Citizens who cannot speak English, 96% of the population as of right now, have the potential to be viewed as inferior to those who can. This can lead to social discrimination, which can lead to economic inequality, given that the social discrimination becomes prominent enough.
Although a national change in language has the potential for harm, it has even more potential to further the development of Rwanda. English is a language commonly spoken around the world. Transitioning to it would allow for Rwanda to become more involved in discussions with other countries about important topics, integrating Rwanda more closely with the involvements of others and opening up new opportunities for them as a country in general, and for their citizens individually.
