SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

Above form 4 1 3 0.5
Other 3 0.3
Those who want Chiyao to be introduced as a language of instruction were curiously
mostly those who have never been to school (25.9%) and those who have only gone up to
standard five (37.5%). Those educated from standard six through secondary school
education (36.3%) did not find it necessary to have Chiyao in the school system.
It is very possible that the educated respondents were not thinking in terms of the
necessity of introducing Chiyao in the school system but rather the logistics and
associated problems. More importantly it reflects the generally low opinion that educated
Malawians have towards their own languages. It is observed that the more educated one
is the more contemptious one towards the local languages. In fact, one is more likely to
find educated Malawians conversing in English than their own languages. It is also
possible to argue that the low figures among the educated respondents who were not in
favour of introducing Chiyao in schools is indicative of the extent to which they have
accepted English and Chichewa and the only school languages.
A follow up question sought to elicit information on the type of Chiyao to be taught in
schools. The results are shown in Table 3 below:
TABLE 3:
VARIETY OF CHIYAO TO BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS
NAME
% OF RESPONDENTS
Mangochi Chiyao
Machinga Chiyao
Makanjira Chiyao
Zomba Chiyao
Chiradzulu Chiyao
Mozambique Chiyao
Dedza Chiyao
Namwera Chiyao
Katuli Chiyao
44.2
10.8
4.6
3.8
2.1
1.5
1.2
0.7
0.7
19