CAPITALISE ON GROWING ADOPTION OF KISWAHILI

Kiswahili is spreading fast and promises to be Africa’s lingua franca in the next few decades. Many countries are increasingly adopting it into their education systems. Today, it is among the ten most widely spoken languages in the world, with more than 200 million speakers.
Kudos to Unesco for recognising it and declaring July 7 as World Kiswahili Day in 2021. Tanzania today joins other countries to celebrate the day.
Having a language recognised by the UN means a lot for Tanzania. In fact, Kiswahili is the first African language to have been accorded this honour.
Certainly, the spread of Kiswahili promises greater social cohesion on the continent, which will definitely open many economic opportunities.
Kiswahili, which is the national and official language of Tanzania and later Kenya, is now taught in many universities across the world.
It has been a long journey promoting the language, but efforts are bearing fruit.
Earlier this week, the Ugandan cabinet approved the adoption of Kiswahili as an official language and directed that it be made a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.
And now, South Africa is in an advanced stage of formalising Kiswahili as a compulsory subject in their schools.
This is a huge stride in unifying Africa and the rest of the world.
But, as Tanzanians take pride in this language, it is imperative to note that there are economic opportunities that go in tandem with the latest development.
No doubt, demand of competent Kiswahili teachers will rise sharply in Uganda, South Africa and other African countries that are still mulling over adopting the language.
Hopefully, some competent teachers from Tanzania, especially those still looking for jobs, see this opportunity.
The government has pledged to facilitate those willing to teach Kiswahili outside the country, so the ball is in teachers’ court.

LET US PRIORITISE SANITATION

The lack of proper toilets has for many years been a stubborn problem both in urban and rural areas due to various factors, including poverty, ignorance, rapidly increasing populations and unplanned development.

This explains in part why cholera and other communicable diseases caused by poor sanitation are now synonymous with places such as Dar es Salaam.

The big question we ought to ask ourselves is: is enough being done to ensure proper and adequate sewage disposal?

We may be well into the 21st century, but there are people who still think that it is perfectly in order to relieve themselves in the bush. Recent surveys show that proper toilets are not very high up on the list of priorities of a vast number of Tanzanians. They are simply not viewed as a necessity.

The education campaign the government has been conducting since the early days of independence needs to be supplemented with the strict enforcement of by-laws on proper sewage disposal.