KAMPALA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The speaker of the Ugandan Parliament Rebecca Kadaga on Tuesday urged schools in the East African country to teach Chinese language and culture.

Kadaga, who was visiting St. Michael International School, said that Ugandans should strive to learn more than one foreign language.

She said that learning the Chinese language would open up opportunities for locals to work in Chinese companies and also do business in China.

"What is stopping Ugandans from getting jobs from other countries is language problem and that's the reason why I am encouraging Ugandans to learn more languages specifically the Chinese, because we have many Chinese investors in the country who will need translators as they carry on their businesses in the country," she said.

"I am focusing on Chinese language because I know Chinese are here to offer our people jobs and people who know their language will be the first people to have those jobs and that's why even Uganda schools should also think of teaching students Chinese and other languages to increase their chances of getting jobs," Kadaga added.

Starting this month, according to a program announced by the National Curriculum Development Center last year, selected secondary schools are supposed to start teaching the Chinese language.

Some private schools in the country have already started teaching Chinese.