The French government through its embassy in Uganda has funded the project which is aimed at boosting the comprehension of French language in Ugandan secondary schools.
Abdallahi Amelle the Cooperation Attache at the French Embassy in Kampala said that the two-year project won a funding of Euros288,000 (sh1.2bn).
Amelle made the revelation on Monday while representing the Ambassador of France to Uganda at the opening of the five-day French boot camp for both secondary school learners and teachers held at Seeta High School Mbalala Campus. The boot camp runs on the theme; “Learn to interact through games in the digital error.”
She said that among other things, this project is intended to improve the quality of French teaching in Uganda through adopting modern teaching methods.
Through this arrangement, she revealed that in July, the program started with organizing a French teachers’ workshop which was held at Makerere University.
“As we complete this boot camp and the one organized in Kasese district next week, for the coming two months, we are going to create teaching resources which will be distributed amongst different schools across different regions in the country,” she said.
Agatha Tumwine Magezi, the head of the association of French teachers in Uganda said that the boot camp for secondary school French students in Uganda organized at Seeta High School Mbalala attracted close to 500 students and 40 teachers from 22 Central region schools.
Magezi said that unlike the daily French language lessons held in different schools, through the five days, they are to help the learners appreciate the French language by practicing more of what they learn by speaking, coming up with poems, plays, songs and reciting them.
She said that they are to hold a number of these camps right from Central region to Western Region next week and also in other regions in the nearby future.
She showed dismay that though they are advocating for students to learn more of the international languages like French, government is not recruiting the teachers in public school, making it difficult for them to offer the subject.
“Being multilingual is one of the added advantages to the graduates when it comes to job seeking. It can however be possible and simple if the learners got the opportunity to learn these languages in school right from infancy,” she advocated.
The Associate Prof. Atcero Milburga, the dean of Tourism, Hospitality and Languages at Makerere University Business School (MUBS) acknowledged government for the new competence based curriculum which helps learners to study by doing and putting the students at the forefront unlike in the past when everything would be pumped to them by the teachers.
“We are doing the same here, enabling the students to learn and comprehend the French language through games, plays and songs. Through these forums, we are also making our secondary school teachers appreciate the new methods of teaching,” Milburga said.
She also recognized the French government for having funded these initiatives saying that given the fact that French is an option subject which is considered by a few schools, it was not easy for government to fund such programs yet they are so vital.
Dr. Eddy Turyatemba, the Ministry of Education Assistant Commissioner for Vocational Education and Training who represented the State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo implored the learners together with their teachers to beat unemployment through the French language subject by becoming writers, composers and also acquiring more skills which can enable them become interpreters.
“You should not limit your targets on only passing the subject with a distinction but to become composers of plays, poems and other arts which will make you earn from the French language. You must focus on getting skills out of the subject but not only knowledge,” he said.
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