French is important in today’s global village

The news that Senior Three candidates will be having French as one of the examinable subjects at the national level from 2016 was received warmly by many people including yours truly. The education system in Rwanda has undergone several transformations recently and it is important to point out that they are all aimed at improving the sector eventually. Education Times is glad that the Rwanda Education Board realised that making French non-examinable had drastically reduced students’ interest in the subject as many concentrate on passing the final exams. The switch from French to English to as a language of instruction was aimed at broadening Rwanda’s touch with the wider English speaking world. However it is important not to ignore the French speaking world as well. The world is now a global village and any new language that one can learn has got immense benefits in the future. Traders in the region for example survive a lot on Swahili language while English is very important. The rise of China has also seen a growing interest in Mandarin (the Chinese language). Likewise those with the ability to communicate well in French can do a lot of business with people in French speaking countries especially those bordering Rwanda. The merits of being bilingual or multilingual are enormous and therefore efforts to learn any language should be encouraged as much as possible. There is no useless language in the world because language is a tool for communication and we live in a social setup that requires us to always interact with different people. Students should therefore know that the decision to return French to the examination menu serves good interest. Efforts must now be made to equip schools with the relevant books and other materials to help learners perform better.