Are Language Policies Increasing Poverty and Inequality?

I found an interesting article this morning that talks about the role of a language barrier in development. The author wrote about something that we see everyday here in Burkina. French is the official language of Burkina. All government transactions take place in French. It is forbidden to speak local language in a Burkinabè school. Upper class people only speak in French, and view those who speak in local language as below them. While this puts Burkina in the game on a global level, it marginalizes large populations of people who are creative and motivated who could more actively participate in Burkina's national economy because they are deemed "uneducated." Realistically, it is difficult to communicate outside of your village with most local languages, but Mooré can be used almost anywhere in the country and Dioula can be used in most West African countries. So if we allow these languages into the government, schools and trade, in conjunction with French, we would encourage even more people to participate in Burkina's development, and maybe it would help alleviate some of the poverty and inequality here in Burkina.

You can find the full text of the article here.