Educational exchanges

Ernest Jacob Masasi is a beneficiary of Tanzania-china education cooperation. Masasi, in his 60s, has a Chinese name as well, Lao Ma, and speaks fluent Chinese with a typical Beijing accent.

He studied in Beijing Jiaotong University in the 1970s, majored in engineering, and then worked on Tanzania-zambia Railway with some 50,000 workers, most of whom were Chinese.

“The most impressive and useful thing I learnt from Chinese is hard work,” Masasi said.

Like Masasi, Lydia Wangui Muriuki, a former data analysis clerk, is also benefiting from Chinese training. She is attending a six-month ICT class at the Kenya Railway Training Institute in Nairobi. “I am grateful for the knowledge and skills,” the 27-year-old said. “My Chinese teachers are hardworking and patient. We are encouraged to ask questions and fix problems together. I wish I could intern at the Mombasa-nairobi SGR Project next year, and then go to China to find a job.”

The CRBC and Southwest Jiaotong University, based in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, are engaged in this vocational training program, aimed at shaping ambitious young Kenyans into competent SGR technicians and professionals.

By 2017, 40 Chinese teachers will be working in the training institute, and over 700 trainees will finish 14 railway-related courses, according to Dai Ruoyu, head of the training program from Southwest Jiaotong University.

“We have adjusted the teaching plans to better suit Kenyan students who think more critically than Chinese students,” Dai explained. “The training is practical. We want to contribute to Kenya’s development.” Scan the QR code to watch the video