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<div class="gmail-heading"><div class="gmail-content"><h1 class="gmail-headline">Uganda: Varsity Dons Want Government Commitment On Popularising Swahili</h1>
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<div class="gmail-story-body"><cite class="gmail-byline">By Dan Wandera</cite><p class="gmail-story-body-text">Kampala
— A section of dons from leading Ugandan universities have blamed the
slow adoption of Swahili language on lack of political will, coupled
with poor attitude and perception among Ugandans.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">According to Prof.
Abas Kiyimba, a professor of Literature at Makerere University Kampala,
government policy makers and implementers have backtracked on many would
be good policies including the popularisation of Swahili, whose
progress he said is still very slow despite making it a compulsory
subject in secondary schools.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"Government has
been slow in catching up with its own policies passed. The first attempt
to roll out Swahili as an official language was in 1973 when it was
decreed as a national language by then President Idi Amin through a
national vote. In 1995, Swahili language was for the second time enacted
as second official language and we would have expected policy
implementers to have made a significant progress which is not the case.
We need a political will to have this language spoken by more than 100
million people across the African continent made visible. Perhaps the
absence of a national language policy could be another contributory
factor," Prof Kiyimba said.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">He was delivering a
paper "The role of Kiswahili in the integration of East African
Community" at a public lecture held at Ndejje University, Kampala Campus
on Monday .</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Kiswahili is
already an official language in Tanzania and Kenya where it is spoken by
majority of the population. In Rwanda and Burundi, it is widely spoken
but some Ugandans claim the language was used by harsh colonial
officials and government law enforcement agencies and criminals, hence
their dislike for it.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Prof. Kiyimba
advised government to avoid using terminologies such as official
language, national language that could possibly offend some people who
still nurse a bad past history for people who could have taken advantage
of 'this good language(Swahili)' for their selfish ends.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"Let Swahili language be taught like any other language with no coated verbal medals," Prof. Kiyimba said .</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Prof. Eriabu
Lugujjo ,the vice chancellor Ndejje University called for a speedy and
well- thought-out- programme targeting all institutions of learning to
make teaching of swahili easier through availing small pamphlets for
easy reading.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"We should also
have people who can develop small modules for Swahili literature for
readers. We have a variety of other avenues through which the Kiswahili
language can easily be taught. Let us develop teaching cells like the
way bible studies are held to ensure that even people who are not in
school get the opportunity to learn the language," Prof Lugujjo advised.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Earlier, Prof. Fred
Wanjala Siminyu from the department of Kiswahili and other African
languages at Kibabii University, Kenya in his presentation, said Swahili
presents the opportunity of re-igniting and driving the process of
integration of East Africans.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">When contacted
State Minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo admitted
that they encountered some challenges in popularising Swahili language
in the country.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"Honestly speaking,
there have been some challenges, but there is an ongoing review of the
curriculum and we are going to ensure that Kiswahili is compulsory at
lower secondary level," he said</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">He said government had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tanzania to get good Swahili teachers.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"Even in the next
budget, we plan to put more money in promoting the teaching of Kiswahili
so that we consolidate it as a common language of the East African
Community," the minister added</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">The 1992 government
White Paper on education policy review commission report titled
'Education For National Integration and Development' recommended that
both Kiswahili and English be compulsory subjects throughout the primary
cycle in both rural and urban areas.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"Emphasis in terms
of allocation of time and in the provision of instructional materials,
facilities and teachers will, however, be gradually placed on Kiswahili
as the language possessing greater capacity for uniting Ugandans and for
assisting rapid social development," the report said.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">In 2003, government
ordered the ministry of Education to introduce compulsory Kiswahili
teaching in all lower and higher school levels in the country in order
to promote it ahead of the East African integration.</p></div></div>
<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>