Tanzania lauds China for donation of textbooks to students

The government of Tanzania on Thursday expressed gratitude to the Chinese embassy in the East African nation for the donation of 2,700 Chinese textbooks to schools teaching the Chinese language.

Carolyne Nombo, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said at a ceremony held in Dar es Salaam, the economic hub of Tanzania, that the books will help reduce the gap in the student-book ratio in secondary schools and thus improve the teaching and learning of the Chinese language.

In April, the Chinese embassy also donated 2,304 Chinese textbooks to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, bringing the total number of donated books to 5,004.

"The teaching of Chinese as a foreign language in Tanzania's lower-level secondary schools has improved a lot since its introduction as a pilot project in 2016," said Nombo shortly before she was handed over the books by the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian.

There are 18 public lower secondary schools across the country that are teaching the Chinese language, said the Tanzanian official, adding that two schools have introduced the teaching and learning of the Chinese language at the advanced secondary school level.

"Plans are underway to establish Confucius Institute for basic education at the Tanzania Institute of Education," said Nombo.

Chen said the donated textbooks are going to assist many teachers and students who are teaching and learning the Chinese language by helping them learn more about Chinese history, culture and education.

Chen said by April 2023, the number of Tanzanian students who are learning the Chinese language in 18 pilot middle schools is about 6,500. There are four teachers from China, 60 local Chinese teachers, one Chinese project coordinator and five Tanzanian project coordinators in primary and secondary schools.