WAKISO, Uganda, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Forty teachers of the Chinese language in Ugandan secondary schools graduated from a Chinese language training program on Wednesday, after an intense nine-month training in a Confucius classroom at Luyanzi Institute of Technology.

The graduates, who engaged in a Chinese language training program for Ugandan secondary school teachers, are part of the east African country's efforts to train 500 teachers to teach the Chinese language in 1,000 schools in the country, according to Grace K. Baguma, director of Uganda National Curriculum Development Center.

Baguma said the government has already approved the syllabus for teaching the Chinese language at the advanced secondary school level, and at the university level. Degrees in Chinese studies are being offered.

Zhong Jianghua, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Makerere University, said the training of Ugandan secondary school teachers in the Chinese language is critical in promoting the people-to-people relationship between the two countries. - Xinhua