Uganda has adopted Kiswahili as an official language in addition to English.
The Cabinet further directed that it be made compulsory in primary and secondary schools.
“Cabinet recommended that teaching Kiswahili language in primary and secondary should be made compulsory and examinable. It was also further agreed that training programmes for Parliament, Cabinet and the media be initiated,” a statement released Tuesday on the Cabinet resolutions read.
Cabinet approved the implementation of the 21st EAC Summit directive in Uganda to adopt 𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈 𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄 of the community. Cabinet also recommended that the teaching of Kiswahili in primary and secondary should be made compulsory. pic.twitter.com/LfBPJs2ruK
— Government of Uganda (@GovUganda) July 5, 2022
In 2019, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to adopt Kiswahili as a formal language in the region.
SADC is comprised of 16 southern African countries – Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa
United Republic Of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Currently, Kiswahili is the official language of the African Union and in East Africa and parts of central and southern Africa.
In 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) designated July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day.
7 July, which was the day in 1954 that Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) under the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, First President of the United Republic of Tanzania, adopted Kiswahili as a unifying language for independence struggles.
In addition, on 7 July 2000, the East African Community (EAC) was re-established to rekindle the spirit of cooperation and integration among the East African people of the United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda where the Kiswahili language is widely spoken. Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan later joined the EAC and are now members.
