The Kenya Association of Teachers of French (KATF)

The Kenya Association of Teachers of French (KATF) was founded in 1961 by French teachers from Catholic Church schools including: Loreto, Mang'u High School and St. Mary's School. Shortly after, they were joined by other schools; these for and by the missionaries such as Duke of York (Lenana School), Prince of Wales (Nairobi School) among others. According to the Certificate of Registration (1968) at Sheria House Kenya, KATF was officially registered with the Civil Registry Office on 21st June 1968 with the assistance of the then Deputy Registrar of Societies, Mr. ROBERT DUNCAN McLAREN, its Certificate of Registration being R. 4711. KATF is a collective of FLE teachers across the different regions of the country. It has more than 100 members who pay their dues each year, including 7 representatives of the executive board and 7 others in the regions. In 1964, after independence, some schools in Kenya taught French as a foreign language and special subject. The development of diplomatic and commercial relations with some French-speaking African countries justifies the interest in teaching French. According to a circular of December 20, the rationalization of learning areas in competency-based programs has become a ‘non-formal’ language program. In 1971, France and Kenya signed a cultural cooperation agreement. The agreement provided for the establishment of exchanges of researchers, students and teachers between the two countries.