Category: Education

{Parents with children at Centre Communautaire de Kigarama, in Kigarama sector of Kicukiro district have requested for early childhood education to expose their children to early learning and form character as they climb the academic ladder. }

Parents made the request yesterday during the ceremony of sending off 60 children Centre Communautaire de Kigarama has been looking after as well as expressing wishes of the festive season organized in conjunction with Kicukiro district and Hope and Homes for Children, an NGO.

Jeanette Manirarora, one of parents, told IGIHE that the center has helped them to nurture their children which freed their time and directed their concentration on their jobs. She however, requested that children should leave the center after getting basic numeracy and literacy which would help them to start primary schooling.

“Our children get socialization tenets. The center intervention helps us to concentrate on our jobs to support the households, but we wish they would, too, introduce nursery education that will help our children when they start primary education,”

The representative of Hope and Homes for Children, Vedaste Uwimana, says that the organization has achieved many things within three years of existence. It helped to free parents’ time, paid medical insurance for 417 people, gathered 200 parents in cooperatives and trained street vendors to create their own jobs as well as providing them with support, among others.

Uwimana says that a lot needs to be completed including the project of seeking teachers who will teach children in the nursery section which, she said, is underway.
The deputy officer in charge of social affairs in Kicukiro district, Uwayisaba Florence, said that the school is helping little kids in their growth adding that it has transformed livelihoods of some families since it extends support to vulnerable parents.

More than 200 children between three and five years have been nurtured by Centre Communautaire de Kigarama. They are selected based on family’s economic status concentrating on families from first and second Ubudehe category. The school acquaints children with discipline, hygiene, socialization, among others.

{About 800 students, who completed Primary Six and Senior Six currently in their vacation in Nyanza and Ruhango districts, have been reminded of their role in the fight against drug trade and consumption.}

The messages were delivered on December 22 to the students, who are attending civic programmes – Ingando – separately in the two districts.

In Nyanza, Inspector of Police (IP) Jean Baptiste Bizimana, the District Community Liaison Officer, while speaking to the students in Busasamana Sector, hinted on the need for the youth to take a leading role in the fight against the vice, which is rated high among the young generation.

“We are seeing a downward trend in drug related crimes due to increased vigorous awareness and operations backed by the public through community policing, but the youth remain the most threatened by drug abuse,” IP Bizimana told the students.

“You should feel challenged that your generation and fellow students, friends and relatives are being ruined by drugs; it should inform your urgent need to spearhead the fight and awareness against drug abuse in your respective schools and communities,” he added.

He outlined cannabis, banned gin like Kanyanga, Sky Blue and Chief Waragi, and other locally made illicit brew as the common drugs in Rwanda.

The same message was echoed in Ruhango where IP Angélique Abijuru encouraged the students to form anti-crime clubs as a way of coming together to discuss issues affecting them and how they can overcome them.

Rwanda National Police engages in community awareness programmes to engage the general population in ensuring their own community, thus,over 800 anti-crime clubs have been formed in schools, about 140, 000 members of community policing committees and about 10, 000 youth organized under the umbrella organization – Rwanda Youth Volunteers in Crime Prevention Organization.

{The British Council in Rwanda is involved in a number of activities that involve building capacities in English proficiency and soft skills through the English Language Training (ELT) services. The ELT beneficiaries are drawn from ministries, the corporate world, government agencies, civil society organisations and other adults—in the beginners’ and intermediary categories. }

The Council has been working with the National Capacity Building Secretariat (NCBS) since 2008, empowering employees to perform better in the wider East African Community and sustainable efficiency on their jobs. Trainees are introduced to both English speaking and writing skills, where the former involves; short and long presentations, handling and active participation in meetings, while the later builds trainees’ capacities in drafting proposals, reports, e-mails and other correspondences.

The two, at a higher level, are combined to develop telephone and negotiation skills.
“We have, for example, trained staff from parliament, NGOs—such as Peace Corps Rwanda, Office of the Prime Minister, students and others from private corporate entities such as Inyange Industries,” explains Corinne Leukes, a teacher with the British Council ELT.

Corinne explains that a communicative task-based approach is used to enable efficient delivery and adequate learning, where trainees are encouraged to practice the language through role plays, presentations and case studies, driving away from theoretical to practical teaching/learning, building confidence, practice and ability to perform in the process.

Class sizes do not go beyond 20, while the duration of trainings varies with capacity needs that will have been identified but generally ranging from a few days to two months.

There has been a gradual shift from the francophone and francophone culture towards English conventions of using the language and other structures. Because English is very linear, focused and efficient, it has been possible to impart skills and develop abilities of the trainees to adopt the conventions of the English language. Feedback from students has been very positive. “We give students the tools to be able to perform with what they have. Improving your language proficiency requires time and motivation investments as well as being surrounded by the language itself to some extent,” Corinne explains.

Participation, expression, listening and writing are encouraged throughout the training.

The trainees are asked to identify what they want learn, their submissions noted, from our experience add in what else they might need and attuned to their abilities and level of proficiency. “We listen to the trainees on where they want to go next and encourage them to self-reflect. We also get the final feedback at the end of the module.”

The major challenges lie with lack of knowledge about English language conventions which has been addressed by reorienting the learners into appreciating the language differently from the new perspectives, including a general mental shift and wider contexts. Shifting from one language to another at times creates culture clash and interferes with the mental processing system.

There has been improvement in the levels of proficiency but, still, there is need for more to support the beneficiaries beyond the corporate language training and polish the soft skills to even better heights.

{The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is set to support the training of approximately 5,000 school-based mentors and subject teachers on the new basic education curriculum, as well as new instructional materials for P4. The training will be conducted in December and January at Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) across the country by the Rwanda Education Board (REB) and USAID’s Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative, which is implemented by Education Development Center.
}

USAID’s L3 Initiative has developed materials to complement the Ministry’s new curriculum in P4. English materials include detailed teacher guides with pre-scripted lessons, stories for teachers to read aloud to students, and books for students to read in class and at home. The math materials also include detailed teachers guides as well as samples of math games and activities teachers can use to engage learners. Instructional materials for P1, P2, and P3 teachers have been produced and implemented by L3 in recent years.

As part of the L3 activity, TTC tutors and literacy and numeracy advisors from Voluntary Services Overseas will conduct the trainings. Afterward, school-based mentors and school subject leaders will be responsible for providing support to P1-P4 teachers on the new curriculum and, specifically, to P4 teachers on the use of the new P4 materials.

“REB is eager to enable schools begin implementing the new national competence-based curriculum, and we are pleased that teachers are already being trained to support it,” said REB Director General, Janvier Gasana.

To date, the USAID-funded L3 activity has distributed more than 7 million teacher guides, story collections, student reading books and 14,000 cell phones loaded with audio lessons to public and government-aided schools nationwide. Approximately 18,000 P1, P2, and P3 teachers have been trained on using L3 materials and the teaching practices they introduce.

{Parfait Gasana, weekend manager of the Yale Visitor Center, went to the United States in May 2005 without knowing a word of English.}

“I was frustrated. No one could understand what I was saying; I was voiceless,” he recalls.

For a few months, Gasana, then 23, lived as best he could until he met Christine Alexander, founder of the literacy program New Haven Reads. She encouraged him to attend New Haven Reads meetings, and he quickly learned English by reading picture books with the children.

Ten years later, he is returning the favor.

An immigrant from Rwanda, Gasana decided he wanted to create a similar program for Rwandan children and founded the Kigali Reading Center in 2014. Now in its second year, the center serves approximately 100 children every week, with a second center scheduled to open by the end of the year.

Gasana credits the late Alexander and New Haven Reads for his success. After learning English, he graduated from Gateway Community College and earned his B.A. in political science from the University of Connecticut, with a minor in human rights.

Seeing the impact education had on his life, Gasana decided to return to Rwanda.

“I thought, ‘What can I do to actually contribute to a sustainable Rwanda, where the devastation of the genocide not only destroyed lives but also human capital?’ Two decades after [the genocide], education is now a priority, but in the years following the genocide it was not, as other issues, such as the delivery of justice, were much more pressing,” he explained.

The Rwandan genocide occurred over a 100-day period. Gasana was born in 1982 as a refugee in Burundi, as his parents had fled Rwanda a few years earlier. However, his family moved back to Rwanda when Gasana was 11 — a few months before the genocide ended as the pressure for them to leave Burundi mounted.

Gasana said the instability and political strife made education difficult for many Rwandans, including himself. While the country is still recovering from the genocide, Gasana thinks Rwanda has stabilized and allows for the kind of work he and the center are now doing.

The center’s mission is to promote English literacy for pre-elementary and elementary schoolchildren through storytelling, a lending library, and one-on-one tutoring. While the center also serves older teenagers and adults, Gasana said the focus is on younger children between the ages of 4 and 13 “to prepare them for school.” With only three full-time paid staff members, the center relies on volunteers to help read to children.

“Any time that is given to us really is appreciated,” he said. “Some people give 30 minutes a week and others stop by for an hour before they leave the country. All of that is important to continuing the work we do.”

Although finding volunteers is a challenge for the center, Gasana said the biggest hurdle is raising money to support the center and especially for shipping costs. The center currently has over 6,000 books in Rwanda, mostly donations, with hundreds more in the United States. Gasana and his friends pack suitcases full of books every time they visit Rwanda, he said, but he hopes to shift to a more sustainable model in the future.

The children also send letters back to donors thanking them for the books; most write that the book they received is the first book they have ever owned. The center also allows children to check out books on an honor system.

“We tell the children, ‘If you take this book and read it, and then you bring it back, we’ll give you another one.’ The moment we mention that there will be another book given, some kids will go and bring it back within an hour so they can get another one,” Gasana said, laughing.

Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces when they read a new book makes his work for the Kigali Reading Center so rewarding.

“You can see there is hope in the eyes of the children just because someone cares,” he said. “I am where I am today because someone cared and helped me realize that I am worth something. These kids are seeing this as well, and they are enjoying it. The center has become like a home for them.”

{The National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR) has offered training to primary and secondary school students between 12 and 17 years old on how the Institute works and its contribution to national development. }

The director of statistics department, Habimana Dominique, has explained that the organized training was meant to bring the attention of children to the processes of data gathering, analysis and how it is used in proper planning for development.
“We want these children to get acquainted with basic statistics knowledge since they are future leaders,” he said.

Tresor Manzi, one of the participants says he has acquired knowledge on the big role the institution plays in planning and implementation of policies and strategies.
“I had a perception that the institution only concerned with census but I have learnt that their activities extend to nationwide research on citizens’ wellbeing and how to plan for their betterment,” he explains.

Participants were drawn from schools from districts that make up City of Kigali.

{The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has donated six Toyota pickup vehicles worth Rwf 240 million to Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) of Save, Bicumbi, Matimba, Zaza, De la Salle de Byumba and Gacuba.}

While receiving the vehicles, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Célestin Ntivuguruzwa expressed gratefulness on behalf of the government of Rwanda to UNICEF for contributing to the building of a good foundation for the education since the benefiting institutions are very prime in the enhancement of skills for future primary school and nursery teachers.

UNICEF Rwanda’s Deputy Representative, Oliver Petrovic, said the donated vehicles will support the recipient colleges in mobilization and mobility as well as accomplishing various activities in a bid to improve the education of future teachers.

The State Minister in charge of primary and secondary schools, Olivier Rwamukwaya advised heads of schools that received the vehicles, each valued at Rwf40 million, to put them to good use and contribute to national development.