Like many African countries, the Togolese educational system reserves a place of choice, if not exclusive to foreign languages. This fact often leads any observer of the Togolese school to wonder about the reasons for the choice of language policy in Togolese schools. In this sense, this article proposes to revisit a part of Togo’s history in order to bring answers to this legitimate concern, which refers to the predominant place of foreign languages in Togo’s school programs to the detriment of national languages. This contribution has attempted, first, to identify the mechanisms by which foreign languages have been introduced into the Togolese educational system. Then it presented the objectives for which they were/are learned and finally the article pronounced on the status of foreign languages and national languages in the Togolese educational system.
Keywords: Language policy, foreign languages, national languages, Togo, colonization.
