Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has asked his Tanzanian counterpart to deploy Swahili teachers to help boost Rwanda’s efforts in teaching the language.
In a state banquet on Monday night – marking the end of President Samia Suluhu’s two-day visit – President Kagame said that Rwanda had already introduced Swahili lessons in schools.
In 2017, Rwanda adopted Swahili as the fourth official language after Kinyarwanda, French and English but pick-up of the language has been slow because of a shortage of teachers.
Swahili is also the official language of the East African Community, which Rwanda is a member state.
Last month, on the African Integration Day, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni called on Africans to learn Swahili to aid in unifying the continent.