His Excellency the Ambassador of France to Tanzania, Mr. Jean-Francois Lionnet, has officially opened on Monday February 10th the new French Resources Centre of Dodoma. This Centre is situated in Mackay House, in the premises of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, the local partner of the initiative.

The Dodoma French Resources Centre is part of the constant support that France has, for three decades, brought to the teaching of its language in Tanzania. The Centre for Foreign Relations in Dar es Salaam, the French Section of the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics of the University of Dar es Salaam and the French Department of Dar es Salaam Teachers Training College are substantially helped with teaching equipment, training sessions and a French lecturer, as well as many public Secondary Schools where the language is taught.

In order to rationalise its assistance and to give teachers and students easier access to information, books and documents, the Alliances Francaises in Dar es Salaam and Arusha are to become Resources Centres, and in partnership, two Resources Centres have been created, one at the State University of Zanzibar and one in Dodoma. Equipped with multimedia computers, television, DVD reader and video recorder, tape recorders and earphones, a set of CD-Roms and DVDs about history, geography, sciences, arts, etc., books and documents, and soon with Internet access, these Resources Centres are opened to the teachers and students of course, but also to the general public.

Initially dedicated to the support of French language, the Dodoma French Resources Centre is bound to become a forum, a convivial and welcoming place where people exchange views and discuss, in French, in English or in Kiswahili, said the Ambassador. After thanking Bishop Mhogolo for being such an active and motivated partner in that initiative, he stressed the importance of cultural diversity and the need to bring to the users, teachers and students, all sources of information and documentation that they cannot access in relatively remote areas.