Kenya's closer education cooperation

Updated:28/07/11 10:12:46 AM CST

The Kenyan government has demanded further cooperation with China in education to broaden bilateral relationship between the two diplomatic relation nations.

Kilemi Mwiria, Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Higher Education, said education cooperation between the two countries has been on the rise since 1995 when Chinese professors began teaching Kenyan students agriculture and the Chinese. "It is important to enhance education cooperation between the two countries as a way of broadening the relations between the two countries outside the traditional areas of collaboration," He said China has become a very popular study holy land for Kenyan students, compared to the traditional study destinations in western countries."Because they see an extra advantage in learning the Chinese language and culture together with their majors," said Mwiria who is also a former university speechmaker."Educational cooperation between Kenya and China has not been adequate because it is one way. Kenyan students are going to study in China and we hardly get Chinese students coming to study in Kenya," he said.

Mwiria appointed Chinese language and culture, computer science, agriculture, medicine and lately civil engineering as the most popular courses Kenyan students take on in China.He said the east African nation gains tremendously from Chinese education, like it would from elsewhere, adding that the most significant gain Kenya derives from Chinese education is the mastery of the Chinese language by Kenyan students. "They also learn Chinese culture, which is very extensive. Chinese is one of the six languages used at the United Nations and spoken by at least one fifth of the global population. And with China's collaboration with Kenya on the rise, Kenyans are seeing many opportunities knocking," he said. The assistant minister said since the Chinese language is not widely spoken outside China and with the East Asian country 's presence being widely felt in Kenya, having knowledge of the Chinese language is a very big advantage.

Consistent with Mwiria, the most advantage of China as a study destination for Kenyan students is that they are able to study the Chinese language.

High-level Kenyan government officials, including President Mwai Kibaki, have on various occasions expressed thanks towards China for its assistance and investment in Kenya's education development.According to official record, over the years China has granted scholarships to more than 1,200 Kenyans, most of them study in China for five or even eight years.

By this year the China Scholarship Council offered 46 scholarships to Kenyan students whereas Beijing Municipal Government granted 10 postgraduate scholarships to Kenya.The students, upon graduation, have been a major contributory factor to Kenya's economic and social development through the knowledge and skills they learned in China.
Mwiria believes that Kenya and China can still do much in the area of education, emphasized that China is a wealthy country which has the capacity to award more scholarships to Kenyan students to study in China from the current number. "It can also send to Kenya more Chinese language instructors to teach the language in tertiary colleges outside the two universities where it is taught," he said.

The assistant minister said Kenya and China can still do much more in the area of education. "China should increase its enrty of Kenyan students, especially China's growing closer to Kenya," Mwiria said.

Tag: Kenyan