First Confucius Classroom established in Kenyan high school

It was pomp and color at Kenya's State House Girls High School on Wednesday as the school unveiled Kenya's first Confucius Classroom for high school students. The event, which was attended by Chinese embassy officials, University of Nairobi staff and students from seven other high schools in Kenya, saw the State House Girls' Chinese language club graduate to a full-fledged Confucius Classroom with more than 120 students.

According to Evelyn Nabukwesi, headteacher of the school, the school introduced Chinese language studies in 2018 as an extra-curricular activity for the students.

"We are grateful to the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi for providing us with a teacher who has been taking the students through Chinese language classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition to the students, four teachers at our school are also taking classes in the Chinese language and will take over in teaching future Chinese language classes," Nabukwesi said.

She encouraged teachers from other high schools in Kenya to study the language in order to have it introduced in their schools for the benefit of the students.

Julius Ogengo, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Nairobi, said that the establishment of the Confucius Classroom at State House Girls High School is another milestone for the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi. He thanked the Tianjin Normal University in China for supporting the program and expressed hope that future student exchange programs will include high school students who have studied Chinese.

While addressing the students and teachers from China, Zhong Yinghua, the president of Tianjin Normal University, expressed his congratulations to the school on the launch of the Confucius Classroom and said that this was an opportunity for China and Kenya to improve their cultural exchange programs among the youth.

He invited the school's teachers and students to visit his university in China and participate in Chinese summer camp programs as a way to strengthen collaboration in education and culture.

Zhao Xiyuan from the Chinese embassy in Kenya said that the Confucius Classroom at State House Girls is a new achievement in China-Kenya relations and they hope to replicate it in more schools.

"People to people and culture to culture exchange has become a major theme in China-Kenya relations and more Kenyans have started to learn the Chinese language, martial arts and even enjoy Chinese food. We believe that the youth are the future of our two countries and we hope more students will learn Chinese to further strengthen this bond," Zhao said.

Olivia Hawi, a Chinese language student at State House Girls High School who speaks fluent Chinese, said that she hopes to be among the lucky high school students from Kenya who receive scholarships to pursue their undergraduate studies in China.