Hoima Schools Call For Adequate Kiswahili Teaching Materials And Qualified Teachers
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark Kiswahili Day tomorrow 7th July, Schools in Hoima city have blamed the failure to teach Kiswahili on to lack of adequate teaching materials and qualified Kiswahili teachers.
Uganda declared the Kiswahili subject compulsory in all schools as one of its key steps to advance the language and also great create easy communication for the East African community.
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark Kiswahili day tomorrow 7th of July, It has been realized that some schools in Hoima had started teaching the Kiswahili language but later stopped due to a lack of qualified, reliable and enough teachers.
Harriet Karungi, the Head Teacher for Hoima Public Primary School revealed that they have suspended Kiswahili teaching due to lack of teachers.
The teacher they had hired to offer lessons at least in Primary Four and Primary Five left them in suspense when he got higher pay in private schools.
She added that Most of the teachers don’t know how to draft a work plan for the Kiswahili language, indicating that though they are taught Kiswahili in colleges, they are not taught how to scheme it.
Karungi appealed to the government to start training teachers in colleges about Kiswahili to counter the shortage of Swahili teachers she also pleaded for more Kiswahili books to help in the teaching of the language.
Krissy Irumba, a Kiswahili teacher at St Maliko Senior Secondary School revealed that though there is a change in the learners' attitude about Kiswahili, the challenge of teachers and teaching materials remains serious.
Johnson Kusiima Baingana, the Hoima City Principal Education Officer acknowledged the teaching staff and the teaching material as the main stumbling blocks.
He added that the government is very much aware of the problem of Kiswahili learning material and soon all the books will be distributed to schools.
The comments emerge as Uganda prepares to host the second World Kiswahili Day on the 7th of this month.
Uganda lags behind Kenya and Tanzania in terms of promoting the East African Lingua Franca - Swahili.
