ADEA and partners advocate for the advancement of bi/plurilingual education in Africa

8 May 2025 – Members of the Talent Group on SDG 4, including the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), UNICEF, and UNESCO, convened a joint webinar to spotlight the importance of bi- and plurilingualism in enhancing learning outcomes and delivering more inclusive education programs across Africa.
The webinar opened with a presentation on the Talent platform, which fosters knowledge exchange, capacity building, and institutional collaboration in education. In his remarks, ADEA’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Albert Nsengiyumva, reaffirmed ADEA’s longstanding commitment to multilingual education. He emphasized that teaching children in languages they understand, especially in the early years, is critical to unlocking learning potential and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“This platform provides an opportunity to explore effective solutions to the challenges of multilingual education and reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that all African children have access to quality learning in a language they comprehend,”
stated Mr. Nsengiyumva.
He encouraged greater engagement with ADEA to achieve the commitments made by countries at the Foundational Learning Exchange (FLEX) in Kigali and proposed showcasing promising bi/plurilingual initiatives at the upcoming ADEA Triennale 2025, in Accra, later in October.
A key highlight of the event was a presentation by UNICEF’s Haritz Goya Lujambio, on findings from a multi-country study on bi/plurilingual education in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The study examined implementation strategies, challenges, and scalable solutions for multilingual teaching and learning.
Mr. Hassane Diallo from Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Education shared how the country scaled from three bilingual schools in 1998 to 276 across 13 regions. He detailed the structured approach involving nursery schools, bilingual primary schools, and multilingual colleges – highlighting outcomes such as cultural enrichment and greater social integration, despite challenges like inadequate local-language materials and limited trained personnel.
Dr. Cheikh Beye from the Ministry of National Education Senegal elaborated on the country’s MOHEBS approach, integrating six national languages alongside French. Senegal’s strategy includes robust training for education authorities, updated bilingual materials, and resource provision through partnerships with INEAD and the World Bank. He emphasized the need for continuous communication and training to sustain progress.
Meanwhile Professor David Sani Mwanza, shared evidence from Zambia, and demonstrated how mother-tongue instruction and translanguaging techniques improved learner engagement and reading outcomes. He stressed the need for continued teacher training to embed multilingual pedagogy in practice, stating:
“We need to encourage, but also train teachers to be cognizant about multilingual education and apply it – because doing so is for the good of the learners.”
The event concluded with a discussion on the potential of artificial intelligence, digital tools, and strategic financing to scale bi-plurilingual education initiatives across Africa, especially in this era of digital transformation.
Mr. Nsengiyumva closed by commending the speakers and partners, reinforcing the importance of continued dialogue, collaboration, and evidence-sharing to ensure that all children in Africa learn in languages they understand – laying the foundation for inclusive and equitable education systems across the continent.