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Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Alliance Francaise de Kampala (AFK) on March 11th, hosted an awarding event for schools that participated in the French language diploma (DELF) school competition themed, “Njogera Francais- I speak French”
The DELF is an internationally recognised certification awarded by the French ministry of education to prove the French language skills of non-French candidates.
While speaking at the awarding ceremony, Victor Petit the Deputy Director of Alliance Française Kampala said that they reached 925 certifications at the Alliance Française de Kampala in 2022. Two years ago, we reached about 500.
“Thanks to you, the Alliance Française de Kampala is now ranked in the top 5 Alliance Française in Africa in terms of the number of DELF DALF Certifications,”
“Of course, we will not stop there. Our goal with your help and motivation is to exceed 1000 certifications this year 2023,”
“When I visit local schools and meet the directors or headteachers, I am often asked what is the interest for a Ugandan to speak French? Well, I answer that in a global context, the French language has 300 million speakers and has seen an increase of 10% in four years, French keeps its place as the 5th language spoken in the world and the second language learned on five continents,” he added.
Petit said that Uganda is fortunate to be the direct neighbour of the second country in the world, after France, which has the most French speakers, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC has recently entered the economic zone of East African countries, and economic exchanges between Uganda and the DRC are intensifying. But also, with Rwanda and Burundi which are direct partners for Uganda on its western border.
“French has become the third language of East Africa behind Swahili and Arabic, but also the working language of the African Union along with Arabic and English adding that French is therefore also increasing as an African language, with forecasts estimating that 85% of French speakers will live in Africa in 2060. The accuracy of these forecasts depends, of course, on access to education and the quality of French language teaching, an area in which we must act even more effectively, together,”
In the same vein, he thanked the primary and secondary school principals, the French teachers and the parents present who have placed their trust in Alliance Française Kampala.
“Without your commitment to the French language this event would not have been possible,”
“I would also like to thank our sponsors TOTAL Energies, MTN and CFAO for allowing us to honourably reward the winners and thank all the French colleagues who spent a few Saturdays during the year 2022 and who allowed us to organize the exam sessions in their schools.
The best students won a cash prize of 1000€ and other prizes like laptops and tablets.
Teachers were rewarded with trips to France for ICT training and the schools with the highest number of students registered for certifications were awarded desktop computers.
