DAR ES SALAAM, June 7 — Tanzania’s state-run University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) has signed agreements with three institutions of higher learning in three African countries for teaching Kiswahili, a cabinet minister told parliament Monday.
Minister of Culture, Arts and Sports Mohammed Mchengerwa said UDSM has signed agreements with the University of Joachim Chissano in Mozambique, the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria and the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia for teaching Kiswahili.
“The signing of the agreements to teach Kiswahili in these universities followed the adoption of Kiswahili as an official working language by the African Union,” Mchengerwa said when he tabled his ministry’s budget estimates for the 2022/2023 financial year in the House in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania.
Kiswahili has already been adopted as an official working language by the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said Mchengerwa, adding that 1,130 Kiswahili teachers have been assigned to teach the language in a number of foreign countries, including South Africa, Uganda, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Kiswahili is Tanzania’s official language spoken by almost all Tanzanians and is also regarded as a unifying language in the country of more than 60 million people.
UNESCO in November 2021 declared July 7 of each year as the World Kiswahili Language Day. (Xinhua)
