Ugandan officials have praised China’s support for the education sector, highlighting its positive impact on the development of the East African country.
Oliver Wonekha, the Ugandan ambassador to China, said on Thursday that the support, channeled through the Chinese embassy, has made significant contribution to the education sector.
“Through Chinese cooperation, we have had teachers teaching the Chinese language go to China for cultural learning exchange, where they acquire practical entrepreneurial skills,” Wonekha said at Luyanzi Institute of Technology in the central Ugandan district of Wakiso. She was speaking during the first Ugandan Secondary School Chinese Education Development and The Fourth Seminar and Lecture Competition for Ugandan Secondary School Teachers of the Chinese Language.
She said that many Ugandan students have received scholarships, enabling them to acquire educational skills in Chinese universities.
Gilbert Siima, a curriculum specialist at the National Curriculum Development Center, said that the number of teachers training in the Chinese language has rapidly increased in recent years.
“Now, schools teaching the Chinese language have experienced a rapid increment in their students’ enrollment over the past few years because parents are now choosing to send their students to such schools,” he said. Siima thanked China for its donation of books and instructional materials to Ugandan schools.
Ismail Mulindwa, director of Basic Education at the Ministry of Education, said that the opening of the Confucius Institute at Makerere University has provided more job opportunities for Ugandan Chinese learners.
“I can see that we now have many graduates who have studied Chinese through the Confucius Institute. We are making strides, and we believe all of them are now employed in various factories and companies across the country,” he said.
Zhong Jianghua, director of the Confucius Institute at Makerere University, said that more secondary schools will soon join to start offering Chinese language courses for both ordinary level and advanced level. He encouraged more teachers to train in Chinese because there are ample opportunities for them to teach the language as a career.
