On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of French Teachers, the Ambassador of France, Antoine Anfré, shows the need for Rwanda to keep this language.
Every year on 25 November, the French-speaking world celebrates the International Day of French Teachers. In Kigali, the highlight was marked by the words of Ambassador Antoine Anfré. He expressed his optimism about the future of the French language in Rwanda.
“If Rwanda wants to realize its ambition to be a regional hub, it will need French,” Ambassador Anfré said in front of some 40 French teachers. They are being trained at the Kigali Public Library (KPL). “Without French, it will be difficult for the country to achieve this,” he adds.
Indeed, Rwanda’s geographical position places it between English- and French-speaking countries. To the East and North are respectively Tanzania and Uganda, two English-speaking countries. To the South and West are Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). French-speaking countries.
According to him, the Rwandan authorities are aware of this situation. Thus, they are making a special effort towards the teaching of French in the Rwandan public education system.
The Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) and the French Development Agency (AFD) already have a plan to reintroduce French at all levels of education.
Nevertheless, Ambassador Antoine Anfré acknowledges the survival of French in the Land of a Thousand Hills. “French is not dead in Rwanda,” he says. “It is rather alive among the elderly,” he says. “Among young people, the situation is more complicated,” he notes.
French teachers must play a crucial role in this strategic change. “Your work is really fundamental,” he says to trainee teachers. “As a French teacher, you can pass on the language to the younger generation,” he says. They have a big task to be multilingual to take advantage of the many opportunities available.
Donating books to teachers
To support the work of the French teachers, the Ambassador offered them about 450 books. The president of the Rassemblement des professeurs de français, Faustin Rwampfizi, promised to give them to the beneficiaries.
“These books will be given to teachers who have just learned the methodology of French as a Foreign Language (FLE),” he said. “They should be used in the teaching of the language and should help students in reading,” he said.
Some of the trainee teachers have come from teacher training colleges (TTC). “The training acquired will be very useful to us,” says Scholastique Bugenimana, a French teacher at the Mururu TTC in Rusizi district.
She is a graduate of the National University of Rwanda, now the University of Rwanda. She has done Education, French-Kinyarwanda. According to her, the teaching material available in the TTC is not adapted to the learning situation. “The texts to be taught to students are very long (3 to 4 pages). It is not easy to use them for young people coming out of the O’Level who are unable to conjugate the verb “avoir,” she complained.
There were also teachers from Catholic schools. “This training was organized by the French Embassy in collaboration with the Service National de l’Enseignement Catholique (SNEC) and the Université Catholique de l’Ouest,” reveals Maty Ngom, attaché for educational cooperation and head of the Language Centre.
The international day of French teachers was launched in 2019. It aims to enhance the value of their work throughout the world.
Gérard Rugambwa
