Gone are the days when the word university would only bring to mind Makerere into the minds of the ordinary people. Today every region in Uganda has a university and government is planning to have a public university in each sub region of Uganda, Writes Akol Amazima.
Mountains of the Moon, is one such university that is located in Fort Portal Municipality. According to its Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Edmond Kagambe, the university was established to help students from the Rwenzori region (Rwenzururu, Tooro and Bwamba) not to travel long distances in search of education.
The Dean School of Education of the same university Mark Kahwa Abooki says the university has helped many working class people that did not have qualifications to advance and get the right qualifications.
As Uganda embraces Kiswahili, the University has finalized arrangements to offer Kiswahili courses right from certificate to degree level, according to Masereka Levy Kahaika, the Head of Kiswahili department at the same university.
Rwenzori region is known for having embraced Kiswahili earlier than other regions partly because of the area’s closeness to DR Congo, a major Swahili-speaking population as well as the big number of schools offering Kiswahili.
To make good on their claim to become a centre of Kiswahili in Western Uganda, early this year the University hosted Western Uganda Kiswahili speech competitions that were meant to encourage the business community to embrace the language.
The MP for Fort Portal Municipality Alex Ruhunda encouraged the business community in Fort Portal to take advantage of the Kiswahili programs at the university so that they are not left out in region trade.
