Kenya Is Ready To Introduce Mandarin In Its Curriculum

Kenya is a country located in East Africa with its coastline on the Indian Ocean. The education system in Kenya is not so effective. The growth is very slow. In order to improve it the government has decided to teach Mandarin in classrooms.

They believe that it shall improve job competitiveness and alongside improvise the trade relations and connection that they share with China. The country’s curriculum development institute (KICD) has stated that the curriculum to be brought in force from the year 2020 has been designed and developed. Students from grade 4 onwards shall be able to opt for the course. He stated that the language is being introduced keeping in mind Mandarin’s growing global rise and also the growing political and economic connections with Kenya and China. China is a super power already. China is the world's largest manufacturing economy. It is also the world's fastest-growing consumer market and second-largest importer of goods. China is a net importer of services products. It is the largest trading nation in the world which plays an important role in international trade and has largely engaged itself in trade organizations and treaties in recent years. Kenya believes that by introduction of Madarin in the school curriculum, they would be benefitted as China is growing significantly each day. Kenya has followed the footsteps of South Africa in this regard. In South Africa, Mandarin is being taught from the year 2014 in schools. Also, Uganda plans to make it compulsory for the high school students. Presently, Kenya is focusing upon improving the curriculum for students and making them focus on skills that market demands the most. This would indeed enable the generation of better graduates that will prove to be more employable in the labor market. Last year also, certain reforms were brought forward by the education officials. Education Secretary Fred Matiang’I stated that the syllabus would be first tested in order to see whether it requires amendments and then the curriculum will be implemented. Mandarin will be taught along with other local languages and foreign languages such as Arabic and French. Other initiative taken by Kenya for improving its education sector are as follows: Kennya launched an Education Sector Support Programme during 2005–2010, and established the National Assessment Centre (NAC) to monitor learning achievement of students. In the year 2010, the NAC released the results of its first assessment.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/kenya-will-start-teaching-chinese-to-elementary-school-students-from-2020?utm_source=Facebook