DAR ES SALAAM, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Thursday at least 1,224 Kiswahili teachers have been registered to teach the language abroad, including southern African countries.
Harrison Mwakyembe, the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, said a number of foreign countries have started requesting Tanzania to provide them with teachers for the language.
"The list of Kiswahili teachers that have registered for teaching the language overseas will be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation," Mwakyembe told 21 Kiswahili lecturers from the University of Dodoma. The 21 lecturers were undergoing training on the teaching of Kiswahili in foreign countries.
Consolata Mushi, the executive secretary of the National Kiswahili Council, a state-run institution responsible for regulating and promoting the Kiswahili language, said the training was being conducted by the Council to sharpen the lecturers' Kiswahili teaching skills.
Mushi said such training has already been conducted in Dar es Salaam, Iringa, Mbeya, Tanga, Mwanza and Arusha regions to improve teaching skills for teachers that will find Kiswahili teaching opportunities abroad.
In January 2020, Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Palamagamba Kabudi urged the nation's newly appointed envoy to South Africa to speed up the teaching of Kiswahili in the southern African country.
"One of your major tasks in South Africa is to make a follow-up on progress made in the teaching of Kiswahili in schools," Kabudi told Gaudence Milanzi, shortly after he was sworn in by President John Magufuli as the country's new envoy to South Africa.
Kabudi said one of the tasks that were made by President Magufuli when he visited a number of southern African countries in 2019 was to ensure that Kiswahili was taught in schools.
Kiswahili is Tanzania's official language spoken by almost all Tanzanians and also regarded as a unifying language in the country of more than 50 million people.
