Tanzania: As Kiswahili Soars Higher, UDSM Goes High Tech

SADC adopts Kiswahili as 4th working language
By Anne Robi

THE University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is set to go high tech through teaching and offering international examinations for Kiswahili languages skills. The plan is expected to take off this month.

Being the first university in the world to come up with the examinations, the university will

administer all examination processes, including marking and subsequently issue an international certificate that will indicate the competency level of the candidate.

The Chairman of the University Council, retired Judge Damian Lubuva made the revelation during the 49th UDSM graduation ceremony, noting that the move will promote the varsity to be ranked high internationally.

"It is an honor to the university to go international in offering Swahili examinations due to the fact that UDSM is the only university with the oldest Swahili studies since 1930," he said.

Kiswahili is one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa after Arabic and English and is now expanding to countries that have never spoken it before to draw Africans and other continents closer. Apart from Tanzania and Kenya, Kiswahili is spoken in parts of Uganda, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The government is also sending teachers to the countries teaching Kiswahili to help improve and promote the use of the languages in other countries. Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Minister, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe recently informed the public that the government will hire Tanzanian graduates to go and teach Kiswahili in Tanzania's embassies in different countries.

Dr Mwakyembe said Kiswahili is going to become one of the major languages in the world, considering that many countries needed Kiswahili teachers to teach their citizens. Out of 6,000 languages in the world, Kiswahili is among the 10 mostly spoken languages.

Following the move, the varsity recently embarked on a move to promote Kiswahili across the borders as it announced its plans to start teaching the language in various Africa countries.

According to the Institute of Kiswahili Studies at the UDSM, one of the countries where Kiswahili is being taught is Ethiopia, after agreements between President John Magufuli and Ethiopia's government over the use of Kiswahili in the country.

Tanzania's oldest tertiary institution in collaboration with Tanzanian Embassy in Addis Ababa had talks on the implementation programme for teaching Kiswahili in the country. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently declared Kiswahili the fourth official language after English, French and Portuguese.

The former Chairman of the regional bloc and Namibian President, Dr Hage Geingob, declared this before he handed over the Chairmanship to Tanzanian President, John Magufuli during the 39th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State.

"As outgoing Chairman, I announce it so that he (the new chairman) doesn't have the trouble to announce it. Kiswahili is going to be the official language of SADC," President Geingob said during the opening session of the 39th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State held in Dar es Salaam.

Kiswahili thus becomes the first indigenous language to be used by the bloc as an official language at the interstate level, even as the world celebrates 2019 as the international year of indigenous languages. David Maahlamela, Chairman of the Pan South African Language Board, said Kiswahili will help safeguard integrative multilingualism, inclusive of indigenous languages.

"This milestone achievement towards recognition and elevation of indigenous African languages across the SADC region forms part of the greater effort in ensuring development, usage and intellectualization of our heritage languages," he said.

Maahlamela said the board's vision is that indigenous languages will become commonplace at provincial, national, regional and continental levels. "Kiswahili is inevitably well-positioned to integrate the SADC region, thus we fully support this long overdue resolution," he said.

Meanwhile, the number of graduates at the University (UDSM) has continued to increase, with postgraduate students increasing to 95 from 81 last year, and undergraduate students hitting 920 from 655 last year. The number of female graduates has also increased to 38.5 percent from 32.3 percent.

A total of 8,313 students graduated in various education levels, including diploma, undergraduate, post graduate as well as PhD, awarded by the university Chancellor. They were conferred with the certificates by former President Jakaya Kikwete.

According to retired Judge Lubuva, the good results come as a result of better learning environment being set up by the varsity under the government's support by developing the infrastructure and other learning facilities required at the university.

Judge Lubuva who highly commended President John Magufuli's efforts and support he had always accorded the university, said the varsity has made tremendous achievements in terms of learning infrastructure development.

The chairman also expressed his fulfillment with the government's efforts and support it has always given to the UDSM management towards the development of education, as he commended the president's decision to start paying workers' claims, including housing allowances, salary arrears and many others.

The chairman however explained that despite many achievements recorded by the university, there are still significant challenges engulfing the university, among them the shortage of staff and experts in various areas.

"Another challenge is the low number of lecturers researching and publishing in internationally recognized journals," he said, and mentioned student's loans and accommodation shortage as other challenges facing the university.

On the other hand, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor William Anangisye, challenged the graduates to positively use the knowledge they have acquired to pursue development in order for them to be a catalyst for change in Tanzanian society.

He told the graduates they have been effectively prepared by the university to engage with the society and bring out development and positive changes. "The important thing to remember here is that you have a responsibility to the nation as a whole, and a responsibility to the university that provided you with the best education," the VC told the graduates.

He urged them to join the community as part of the work force and to tirelessly search for opportunities rather than waiting for opportunities to come for them.