{More than 30 District Education Officers (DEOs) and Education Inspectors are meeting in Kigali to review the progress of the Rwanda One Laptop Per Child program (OLPC) as well as receive training on new technologies installed in schools to support this program.}
Participants are also reminding each other of the target of reaching at least 1000 schools by the end of 2015 and reaching with technology all schools in Rwanda by 2017.
Other elements to be discussed include the obstacles and lessons learnt since the beginning of the program as well as propose mitigating approaches for challenges.
According to Nkubito Bakuramutsa, the Coordinator of the OLPC program, the essence of the workshop is to sharpen the minds of the DEOs because they are the leaders in charge of education in the country. “They are closer to the schools implementing and monitoring policies,” he said.
Discussions also focused on the best way to address the challenges the program is facing. The DEOs will be trained on how the laptops work, how they can be used to teach, and how they can facilitate a new ways of learning for students. Indeed with graphic rich, interactive, multi media lessons students are able to learn at their on pace and both rural and urban schools enjoy then same content as students in some of the most advanced countries such as Singapore, Japan or the UK.
Regional education inspectors are also attending the workshop. They are in charge of monitoring all education programs around the country. “Having both of them helps us discuss best ways of supporting schools where they have challenges,” Bakuramutsa said.
The workshop, according to Bakuramutsa, is timely. The project has reached a point of maturity where all sectors in each district have at least a school with laptops. “We already have more than 250,000 students each with a laptop, we want to keep the momentum.”
The main objective of the OLPC is to transform the way education is offered, and hence create a technology driven society. With the leadership of districts officers and inspectors in charge of monitoring programs in schools on board, “We are sure this transformation can be successful,” Bakuramutsa added.
All participants will be equipped with the knowledge of identifying the nature of the challenges in their respective areas and ideas on how this transformation can be achieved.
Meanwhile, some of the challenges include the mindset and school infrastructure. Most teachers are used to the chalk board. The officers will help study and advise how to transform teachers into those capable of using the devices as tools for teaching. “We want to have teachers who can use multimedia and other soft resources as tools to improve their teaching,” Bakuramutsa said.
The government is investing in infrastructure that supports these programs; 200 schools have already been equipped with a school server, digital libraries, a school local area networks and electricity.
The workshop is to prepare inspectors to monitor the insertion of technology in schools but also enable them to support schools when needed.
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