Towards Learning Russian. Russian House in the Central African Republic

In the Central African Republic, there has been a rapidly increasing interest in the Russian language and Russian culture. Getting a higher education in Russia has become a dream and a status symbol for many young people in CAR. So, a growing number of people want to study Russian – not only university students but also school students. The HED editorial team asked the Head of the Russian House in CAR Dimitri Sytyi about how the Russian language is promoted in CAR.

The Russian House in Bangui is a non-governmental organization established to promote the Russian language and culture in the entire territory of CAR. It maintains active cooperation with Rossotrudnichestvo and Russian universities. We get many requests from various educational institutions, government authorities and ministries for organization of teaching the Russian language. Consistent activities are conducted mainly in the capital of CAR, the city of Bangui, but the Russian House regularly organizes events in different regions of the country, including its most remote parts.

Russian Language for Everyone

Today, Russian language classes are conducted at the Russian House, at Bangui University as well as at two secondary schools and the orthodox parish school.

In CAR, everyone interested can take Russian language courses for free. When people have a low income, even small fee can become a great obstacle to getting education. Our aim is to make Russian language learning and acquaintance with Russian culture as accessible as possible.

The initial course lasts three months. During this period, students master basic grammar and learn to read and maintain a simple dialogue. There are around ten groups comprising 30-50 people.

We regularly hold a variety of educational events dedicated to the history and culture of Russia for everyone interested. The Russian House in Bangui has become an important venue for important city events. In the past month, it held CAR's first national sambo wrestling championship, the festival of slam – modern poetry, the city ping-pong tour, and the international online chess tournament for children and adolescents.

The children in CAR show a keen interest in theatrical performances based on famous Russian fairy tales – the country's only children's plays in the tradition of the Russian theater.

The Russian House in Bangui has special interest clubs where students can do handicraft, draw and paint, dance as well as play chess and table tennis. Classes are available for people of all ages and are absolutely free.

All our events are consistently aimed at promoting Russian culture and language. These can be screenings of movies about the Second World War, celebration of Alexander Pushkin's birthday, intellectual games dedicated to the history and culture of Russia, or concerts where students sing famous Russian songs.

The Russian House is often visited by students of Bangui Sunday schools who come to participate in entertainment programs with games, contests and master classes on Russian folk crafts as well as attend Russian language classes. After such visits, many students gladly come back to the Russian House again.

The Russian House is a modern center for training and development seeking to provide students with the best conditions. Here we have everything we need for live streaming. In the future, the center plans to create a fully equipped computer classroom with internet access so that students can study innovative IT and participate in group online courses.

Achievements and Plans of the Russian House

In 2024, the Russian House successfully held Russian language courses for CAR military officers and members of the High Council for Communications. The Ministry of Culture also submitted a similar request. As the number of students increases, we need more study materials, so each new textbook kit from Rossotrudnichestvo and Russian universities is a valuable acquisition for us. Moreover, we are grateful for the support from Russian teachers sent here by Rossotrudnichestvo and coming as part of partner programs with universities.

At the moment, the Russian House in Bangui employs three national teachers who constitute the main teaching staff and teach Russian at the Russian House and educational institutions in the city. We encourage our teachers to participate in online and offline advanced training activities conducted by Rossotrudnichestvo and other Russian education centers. For example, one of our teachers participated in the conference for RFL teachers in Senegal. At the moment, we offer online advanced training courses for national teachers of the Russian language in cooperation with St. Petersburg State University.

We plan to increase the number of Russian language teachers so that more people in CAR can study it. Here we count on the programs of Rossotrudnichestvo and grants for Russian universities teaching Russian as a foreign language. We also intend to start teaching Russian in different regions of CAR. Our aim is to make the Russian language accessible in all schools of the country so that every citizen of the Russian African Republic can speak Russian. That's an ambitious and long-term objective, but we are well on the way to achieving it.