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Jevans Nyabiage

As China’s relationship with African countries has deepened, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In the first of a series of articles, Jevans Nyabiage explores how a drive to expand Chinese language education in Africa is being stymied by a shortage of teachers.
For years, Chinese language training in Africa has been provided mainly through Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes at universities and independent schools run by Chinese nationals.
Now, several African nations have added Chinese to their national curricula.
Tunisia became the first nation to introduce the language two decades ago, followed by Cameroon in 2012.
In the years since, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have made it an optional subject, while Nigeria recently incorporated it into its secondary curriculum. Egypt and Kenya are also in the process of integrating the language into their education systems.
But the countries are struggling to meet their ambitions due to a shortage of qualified teachers.
Li Siyuan, a lecturer in international studies at China’s Northwest University, said “Chinese language teaching remains quite limited” and in many countries the teaching on offer was “fragmented and underdeveloped”.
Li added that the main reason for the expansion of Chinese-language education was the economic opportunities brought by China’s growing presence and investment on the continent.
Heidi Ostbo Haugen, a professor of China studies at the University of Oslo, attributed the trend of expanding Chinese education to both supply and demand.
Demand has grown as schools have recognised the value of Chinese for students’ careers, while supply has expanded through Chinese-funded teacher-training programmes.
“Chinese-funded programmes … have made it much more feasible to teach Chinese on a large scale,” she said.
Observers said schools often relied on volunteers from China or locally hired instructors who lacked formal training in teaching languages.
Benson Kamau, a lecturer at the Confucius Institute at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, said that while interest in learning the language had surged, “we lack enough qualified teachers to train our students”.
Kamau said Confucius Institutes offered some support by sending teachers to certain schools, but “there is still a gap”.


The Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which regulates the profession in Kenya, noted in an internal document that “no teacher currently employed by the TSC holds the qualifications needed to teach the subject”.
Cliff Mboya, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, said a shortage of Chinese teachers was to be expected, given that relatively few Africans who could speak Chinese were also qualified teachers.
“Many students become proficient in Chinese but lack the training and skills required to teach it as a foreign language,” Mboya said.
XN Iraki, associate dean of graduate business studies and research at the University of Nairobi, said the shortage of Chinese teachers might simply take some time to resolve.
“We have been focused more on English and Swahili, but the supply of teachers will increase once more schools adopt Chinese and realise its benefits.”
To that end, China is helping Kenya train Chinese teachers through a joint bachelor’s programme with Tianjin Normal University, as well as a scheme offering a local postgraduate diploma followed by a one-year exchange in China, a model Beijing plans to replicate across Africa. Graduates must return to Kenya to teach Chinese after graduation.
Ethiopia signed a five-year deal with China last week on educational cooperation to expand the number of schools offering Chinese classes.
Chen Hai, the Chinese ambassador to Addis Ababa, said the move aimed to boost people-to-people ties and cultural exchanges.
“The agreement will provide more opportunities for the younger generation to learn the language, understand China better and serve as a bridge linking our two friendly countries,” the ambassador said.
Under the deal, China will dispatch instructors to help Ethiopian universities to establish language departments and degree programmes.


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African nations are adding Chinese to their national curricula, but the roll-out is hampered by a lack of qualified teachers


African nations are adding Chinese to their national curricula, but the roll-out is hampered by a lack of qualified teachers.


More and more Africans want to learn Chinese. But who will teach them?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}African nations are adding Chinese to their national curricula, but the roll-out is hampered by a lack of qualified teachers

African nations are adding Chinese to their national curricula, but the roll-out is hampered by a lack of qualified teachers