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The conference room of the Lake Campus of the University of Goma hosted, on Monday, March 23, a scientific and cultural event dedicated to the promotion of local languages.

Researchers, teachers, final-year students in literature, from several secondary schools in the city of Goma, as well as members of the Nyanga, Nande, Lega communities, etc., participated in this meeting, marked by a series of interventions focusing on the role of language in education and in Congolese society.

Among the highlights of this event, Professor Ndovya Mundala's intervention particularly caught attention. In his presentation dedicated to language in the Congolese educational system, he advocated for an inclusive pedagogical approach that takes into account the languages mastered by learners. According to him, the use of language must adapt to contexts and sociocultural realities.

“Language is an essential element of a people's culture. Forbidding a child from communicating in their mother tongue, under the pretext of promoting French, amounts to depriving them of part of their identity,” he explained, while highlighting the challenges posed by multilingualism in the national educational system.

The event was also marked by the unveiling and baptism of Kisonsomori, a Kinyanga-French and French-Kinyanga dictionary, presented as a major contribution to the preservation and promotion of this language.

The symbolic baptism ceremony was presided over by Professor Ordinaire Nzabandora Ndimubanzi, Secretary General for Research at the University of Goma. In a solemn speech, he expressed the hope that this work would undertake “a long journey through all the libraries of the world, whether physical or virtual,” placing it under the sign of science, knowledge, and intelligence.

Also speaking, Professor Munshunganya Sambukere, a teacher at the University of Goma and editor of the dictionary, emphasized the symbolic and cultural significance of the work: “We are not only celebrating the publication of a book, but the rebirth of a language, the preservation of an identity, and the recognition of a people. If we do not fix our words today, they risk disappearing,” he stated, stressing the urgency of documenting local languages in the face of contemporary changes.

Furthermore, this ceremony was also marked by a moment of academic celebration, on the occasion of the official presentation of the trophy won by the students of the University of Goma during the inter-university eloquence competition organized by the RFI Goma Club. Winners of the first place in the competition held the previous Friday, the students presented the trophy and the prizes obtained to the Secretary General for Research, as a sign of institutional recognition.

This sequence provided an opportunity to commend the commitment of the competition organizers and to promote a culture of excellence and oral expression among university youth, in line with the spirit of the International Francophonie Day within which the activity was framed.

Beyond its scientific dimension, the event also aimed to be festive and identity-affirming. The ceremony concluded in a friendly atmosphere, marked by traditional songs and dances from the Nyanga community, reflecting pride and attachment to a cultural heritage that has long been marginalized.

Through this initiative, the University of Goma reaffirms its commitment to scientific research while working to promote indigenous knowledge, in a context where linguistic issues remain at the heart of educational and cultural challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo.