Tanzania has not banned Swahili in its secondary schools

“Tanzania has banned Swahili Secondary Schools (sic),” reads the post published on Facebook on January 13, 2022.

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Screenshot showing the misleading post, taken on January 26, 2023

According to the post, the directive was issued by an education ministry official.

Similar posts were shared here, here, and here on Facebook.

But Tanzania has not banned the use of Swahili as a language of instruction in its secondary schools.

Story retraction

Government spokeswoman Nteghenjwa Hosseah dismissed the claim as untrue.

“Both Swahili and English are the modes of teaching in secondary schools across the country, nothing changes,” she told AFP Fact Check.

Hosseah added that Swahili is also “taught separately as a subject in schools”.

The post seems to have originated from a social media post by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle who later retracted it -- but not before social media users shared screenshots.

On January 13, 2022, the government's chief spokesperson flagged the Deutsche Welle post on Twitter, saying it was erroneous.

In a statement published in Swahili on January 14, 2023, the Tanzanian government said that English and Swahili are the official languages of the country. Swahili is used in government and primary schools, while English and Swahili are official languages of instruction at high school and college levels.