By Allan Olingo
Kenyans like to make fun of Nigerians, especially the Pidgin English in their movies that leave listeners struggling understanding what they are saying.
But for Kiswahili speaking Tanzanians, that’s not a bother. They are getting Nigerian speaking Science teachers at no cost.
It appears the Zanzibar Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is finalising preparations to receive 15 science teachers from Nigeria to help improve education in the islands.
According to the islands Principal Secretary (PS) Ms Mwanaidi Saleh, they are expecting 15 teachers by end of September.
“This will definitely be a great support for secondary students,” Saleh said.
Volunteers
According to Saley, it was previously planned to ‘import’ ten teachers, but fortunately Nigeria has offered five more to support the island’s efforts to minimise shortage of science teachers in Zanzibar schools.
“The Nigerians teachers that we are expecting are volunteers and they will be in Zanzibar for two years. During this period, we will be not paying their salaries, but our responsibility will be to take care of them by providing accommodation, transport, and health services, “the PS said.
What is interesting is that Zanzibar is a predominantly Kiswahili speaking island while Nigerians, even though are English speaking, have a predominant pidgin accent. It will be interesting to see how these two will merge and its outcome.
The Island’s Government has mentioned that education is one of its priorities, allocating a huge budget, which includes cost of recruiting more skilled teachers mainly for science subjects.
Surplus
