Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE development milestones achieved in Tanzania within 60 years of Independence is attributed to the growth of Kiswahili language, as a key unifying factor among its citizens.
Use of a single unifying language among Tanzanians was brought about by the country’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere soon after attaining independence. Mwalimu Nyerere had foresight when he declared that Kiswahili would be the national language as soon as the country attained its independence.
Due to the unifying language, people could easily interact without having to be recognised by their ethnicity.
This also saw the use of Kiswahili in all levels of government, trade, art as well as schools in which, primary school children are taught in the language, before switching to English as a medium of instruction from secondary to other high level of education.
Kiswahili is a lingua franca in the African Great Lakes region, as well as in the East and Southern Africa, and this is among the reasons which has enabled the language to become the tenth most used language globally.
Deputy Minister for Arts, Culture and Sports, Ms Pauline Gekul, disclosed this here yesterday while outlining key achievements, challenges and direction of the ministry as the country heads to mark its 60 years Independence anniversary next month.
Ms Gekul revealed that since Independence, the use of Kiswahili has massively grown from being a language of unity to a commodity.
“The growing use of Kiswahili within and outside Tanzania as a commodity has enabled the language to continue to thrive and be used to a point of becoming the 10th most widely used language in the world,” said Ms Gekul.
She equally observed that Kiswahili was adopted as among official languages of the African Union (AU) in 2006 and the Southern African Development Community (SADC-2019). In East African Community (EAC), Kiswahili is a very important language for people within the region.
She said it is the language which is widely spoken within the EAC community, therefore must be embraced and held high in all spheres.
Similarly, she said the noble language is currently being employed by more than 100 radio stations and channel broadcasts across the world.
Such includes almost all major international media outlets, including British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America (VOA), Germany’s Deutsche Welle and China media outlets.
She revealed that the establishment of the various higher learning institutions that teach using Kiswahili in their undergraduate and post-graduate programmes has helped to further strengthen the language around the world.
“This has enabled our experts to be employed in teaching Kiswahili locally and abroad as a step towards the internationalisation of the language,” she stated.
Ms Gekul also revealed that major steps have been taken by the country to further promote Kiswahili by introducing a 10 years 2021-2031 strategies involving the country’s embassies in the promotion of the language.
She noted that three embassies have started the implementation of the programme as the country continues engaging others to take the task to further promote Kiswahili as a crucial commodity of the country.
Early this year, the Embassy of Tanzania in France, in partnership with the Association of the Tanzanian Diaspora Living in France, introduced a programme to teach Kiswahili as a way of promoting the language overseas.
Besides promoting the language, other objectives include marketing Tanzania beyond the country’s borders as well as fostering cultural interaction.
In further strengthening and promoting the language, she noted that in 2005 they established the East African Community Commission with a view of coordinating and overseeing the development and use of the language within and outside the community.
Also, other associations for the promotion and development of the noble language, include the establishment of BAKITA, organisation dedicated to the development and advocacy of Kiswahili as a means of national integration in Tanzania, association for Kiswahili architecture and poetry (UKUTA), Kiswahili Language and Literature Association of Tanzania (CHALUFAKITA) and the Kiswahili Association of East Africa (CHAKAMA).
Others include Kiswahili World Development Association (CHAUKIDU), Tanzania Poets Association (CHAWASHATA) and the Institute of Kiswahili Studies (TATAKI).
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