According to the Western Province Governor, Alphonse Munyentwali, no lives have been claimed but the floods injured three people and one was referred to Ruhengeri Hospital.
“No death has been reported but two people sustained minor injuries and one sustained leg fracture,” said Governor Alphonse.
“Properties damaged include 26 houses and Ecole d’Art de Nyundo with over 356 toilets destroyed and five bridges were damaged,” he added.
He said that affected families will receive support including home materials this Monday as agreed between the province leadership, Rwanda Red Cross and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR).
Munyentwali said that they will conduct a study to identify whether no families living close to Sebeya River could be affected by floods.
Currently, affected families are sheltered by their neighbors.
The programme which aims at improving English language literacy and numeracy among students of primary one, two and three grades (P1, 2 and 3) is jointly being implemented by Education Development Trust, British Council and VSO, the three organisations which designed the programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Rwanda Education Board (REB).
Funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the programme is built on three foundations that are teacher development, school leadership for learning and system strengthening in all state-funded primary schools.
Jo Owen, International Chair of Education Development Trust (EDT) said the programme running until 2021 is focused on learning outcomes, not about just doing training or the number of people who have been trained but it is about student’s achievement.
Mr. Owen was addressing media after a field tour of two schools in Muhanga District and holding talks with district and sectors’ education officers on Friday.
“I have seen a lot education programmes around the world but I am very impressed by the Rwandese Government’s vision, energy and ambition for education. We are absolutely privileged to be helping to enable that vision to come through,” he said.
He added that education officials and headteachers are challenged by a huge amount of responsibilities but EDT is going to find what can help them deliver BLF programme in addition to other responsibilities.
“The purpose of this trip was to understand more about the programme, the situations on the ground and find how this programme can succeed. What I have seen on the ground is, a lot of teachers, headteachers and officials are both talented and very motivated, and those are the two main ingredients for success,” he observed.
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Timothy Bainbridge, EDT Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said the programme is different from previous programmes which used to take teachers for training and send them back to work.
“This is not about taking teachers out of the classroom to train them and go back to classroom. We have seen in many countries that it is not working well. With this BLF, we want to train teachers and work with them in the school environment. We are bringing innovative approaches to make sure the literacy and numeracy improve,” said Mr. Bainbridge who was also on tour alongside Mr. Owen in Muhanga District.
The two flanked by district and sectors’ education officers visited Kivomo Primary School where they followed a P3 teacher delivering a Mathematics lesson and GS Gitarama where a P2 teacher was delivering an English language lesson.
”Teachers have a challenge of English language. In collaboration with REB, we have developed toolkits of English and Mathematics for teachers. We are distributing them to the districts, they will train teachers and give them the materials. The teachers will improve their English. They will have teaching aids that meet well the Competence-Based Curriculum. BLF is a technical support component. One of the components of this programme is that some lessons have been recorded on audio and video tapes,” he added.
The lessons will be put on SD cards and teachers will be given smartphones to use for hearing and watching the lessons and then teach following the model in pre-recorded lessons.
Fausta Mukanyandwi, Headteacher of GS Gitarama, appealed for teachers’ intensive training in English language, saying that most of the teachers have limited skills in English because they did their education in French system but they are looking up to BLF programme to help them improve their skills.
Emilien Ntagwabira, Muhanga District Education Officer in charge of primary education, urged teachers and schools’ leaders to embrace modern teaching ways that are in BLF programme to improve the quality of education.
“We expect from BLF the improvement of teachers’ skills in modern teaching ways by engaging students in lessons. REB has been training some teachers who train others but now with BLF, all teachers for P1, 2 and 3 will receive training. We are all committed, including local governments, to making this project a success to improve quality of education. We ask parents to care for their children’s education, give them school materials, send them to school on time and facilitate them in the entire education process,” he said.
On the course of three years, BLF programme will reach out to 2.6 million children; 12,500 English and Mathematics teachers of P1, 2 and 3; 2,500 headteachers; 2,500 chairpersons of School General Assembly Committees; 832 mentor trainers; 416 Sector Education Officers; 30 school inspectors; 30 District Education Officers and 30 District Directors of Education.
The president tweeted the news, saying he was appointing General Elly Tumwine as Security Minister and Okoth Ochola as Inspector General of Police (IGP).
‘‘In exercise of powers granted to me by the Constitution, I have appointed Gen Elly Tumwine as the Security Minister. I have also appointed Mr Okoth Ochola as the Inspector-General of Police. He will be deputised by Brig Sabiiti Muzeei,’‘ read the president’s tweet.
General Elly Tumwine replaces General Henry Tumukunde while Okoth Ochola who has been the deputy IGP replaces General Kale Kayihura.
Ochola will now be deputised by Brigadier Sabiiti Muzeei who has been the commander of the military police in the country.
The tweet was the climax of the president’s impassioned reassurance to Ugandans that the latest wave of crime would be solved by the government, just like armed rebellion and other problems have been solved in the past.
The president, who has repeatedly called for the installation of CCTV cameras in urban areas as a means of fighting crime, recently added that it is time for Ugandans’ palm prints and DNA details to be captured to aid the fight against crime.
Then, with a vigourous show of energy and spectacle, the Nigerian music Icon, David Adedeji Adeleke better known by his stage name Davido, arrives on the stage at the Amahoro Stadium Parking, in Kigali, in a historic performance that thrills all the music enthusiasts.
Davido performed in Kigali under the ‘30 Billion Africa Tour 2018’ series of which more will be featuring throughout the African continent.
The music tour is co-sponsored by Sony Music label; Rwandan based music house Positive Production and international media houses like RFI and France24 among others.
At Amahoro Stadium Parking, Davido thrilled revelers where he was joined by musicians including Phiona Mbabazi, Sintex, Buravan, Charly&Nina and Riderman.
Davido entered the stage at 12:35am and left the stage at 1:45am.
The Nigerian Music star was pleased with ways Rwandans showed him love in his songs and the way fans support Rwanda’s and African music industry.
He paid tribute to Rwandan rapper, Joshua Tuyishime better known by his stage name Jay Polly. On stage, they both sang Jay Polly’s ‘Ku musenyi’ hit. Davido described Jay Polly as super star in Rwanda due to the 2014 show memories he still has.
Kagame was speaking in an interview with American Author, Ian Bremmer in Germany on the sidelines of last month’s Munich Security Conference.
The interview took place after Kagame had met US President Donald Trump in the sidelines of World Economic Forum that took place in Davos, Switzerland in January.
Asked whether he asked Trump about his comment about Shithole remarks he made referring to African countries and some Asian countries, Kagame replied saying that he did it in a ‘civil way’.
“In a way that is more civil than people would have expected. We naturally had to talk about that, but also the background that it is as if no one is sure what was even said, because people including himself said no; it was either misrepresented or actually they didn’t hear it, others heard it. I didn’t find it correct that I would dwell on such. And as you said, Trump being President of the United States I’m more interested in how Africa and the United States can work together,” he said.
Asked whether he came away with anything specific, he said that after the discussions, Trump wrote a letter to the African Union expressing how he wants to work with Africa and African leaders.
“And even he mentioned my meeting with him in Davos, which message for me was important enough that he was reacting out and saying, I mean to work well with Africa and serious about it. I thought for me that is the most important thing,” he added.
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Last year, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe resigned from his office and the World was surprised with peaceful transition.
Last month a consecutive transition took place in South Africa, where former President Jacob Zuma resigned from office and the same scenario in Ethiopia where Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned.
Kagame said that Africa is more and more integrated in the rest of the World.
Stressing on the case of Ethiopia that is economically stable since Desalegn took office six years ago, Kagame said that what matters is aspirations of people.
“This connectedness really informs people and drives people to do things we want to do and raises the level of aspiration and there is a thing that happens in one way or another that correction is made so that the demands and aspirations of these people are met,” he said.
He said that Ethiopia remains a good performer in terms of development that have taken place and in the growth of the economy.
He said that it’s okay if Desalegn resignation was for opening up more integration for different actors acting in different interests for the people of Ethiopia.
The call was made on Friday during a consultative meeting that brought together RURA and different public and private institutions.
The 4th industrial revolution is described as a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological Worlds and impacting all disciplines, economies and industries.
RURA Director-General, Lt Col Patrick Nyirishema said that there are different variations brought by ICT be in transportation, communication and medication among others. He said that the meeting aimed at deliberating on way forward so that Rwanda will not draw back or lag behind in the revolution.
“These are things that are happening today, we wish to adopt these variations so that in one, five or ten years ahead, we shall not find ourselves lagging behind, but, be on same track as these changes are taking place,” he said.
He said that it will be possible when government and private institutions in ICT sector partner and play their respective roles.
Karasira Willy Claude, the head of Centrika Ltd, a software development company, said that the basic foundation which is infrastructure has been put in place by the government and the way forward is for them to work.
He said that companies in the sector are going to sit together and deliberate on ways they will work with international companies so that Rwandans will not be left behind.
The chief guest at the function was the chairman of the chamber of Rwanda tourism, Eng. Aimable Rutagarama. It was attended by among others the founder and Chairman of the University Council, Prof Simon Gicharu, Kenya’s commissioner to Rwanda, Hon. John Mwangemi, the Vice Chancellor designate Prof Evans Kerosi, members from Rwandair, the hotel and tour firms and the alumni.
Prof. Gicharu pledged to continue investing in Education to ensure the university meets its obligations of establishing centers of excellence in niche areas that will drive the country’s economic activities.
‘We will forge more partnerships and invest more by setting up a five star 40 room hotel to make MKUR a centre of Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism training, This will complement our new facility and help build capacity and hands on skills for our students. Many Rwandans spend a lot of money to study abroad in this field. But with our modern facilities and partnerships with renowned institutions such as Utali College, it is now convenient and affordable to study at MKUR and acquire an International qualification “, he said.
Prof Gicharu said the University spent 350bfrancs to set up its Ultra Modern campus in Kicukiro district, Kagarama and is looking forward to complete its next phase of a student hostel, Journalism studio and basketball court at cost of 600,000,000m frw.
Hon. Mwangemi commended the University for playing part in uplifting the education standards in Rwanda and being focused since its formation in the year 2015 to become one of Africa’s most credentialed universities.
“Rwanda’s principal asset is its people. The government of Rwanda has laid emphasis on Education as a key pillar in transforming the country into a middle income knowledge driven economy by 2030 to 2016. MKUR is in a position to be one of the driving institutions to achieve Rwanda’s dream. The launch of the hospitality and tourism facility complements these government efforts of harnessing Rwanda’s human resource potential,” he said.
Eng. Rutagarama noted that the number of establishments from five star hotels to small bed and breakfast facilities increases with time. He said to most people in Rwanda, Brand names such as ‘marriotti”, and Radission Blu” existed only in magazines, TV, and the internet. But now they are part and parcel of our hospitality landscape. We are now on the homestretch in completing the implementation of Rwanda’s development blueprint the vision 2020. The move by the University to establish a centre of excellence will enhance human resource development, infrastructure development, private sector- development, regional and international integration”, Said Eng. Rutagarama
Dubbed Heads of Schools Organisation (HoSO), the organization is made up of kindergarten, primary and secondary education providing schools both public and private.
Among problems that hamper education in Rwanda include school dropouts, class repetition and unwanted pregnancies among others.
The Organisation coordinator, Father Innocent Gatete said that the government has put in place all necessities for children to get access to education, but noted that awareness among school head teachers is needed to make quality education possible.
“Attending schools could result into nothing if there is no quality of education. That is why we as professionals have decided to combine efforts to build foundations of quality education for our children so that they will be capable to tackle problems that the World faces,” he said.
He said that HoSO will help head teachers in terms of training, advice and any other support that could help develop education in their schools.
The State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Isaac Munyakazi said that for education programmes to succeed there is a need for good school managers.
“Some of education key partners are school head teachers. There are many commendable achievements which represent good management, but, on the other hand there are others which are not properly implemented, hence they do not require many resources. This organization will support the government by advising one another,” he said.
Speaking to IGIHE, Japhet Ndagijimana the Head teacher of Muhabura Primary School in Rusizi district said that HoSO will help them identify problems they face and how to address them.
“This organization brought together people from inside education sector, we hope that these problems will be solved in modest way and continue to advance the quality of education,” he said.
It is expected that the organization will bring together over 8000 head teachers from across the country.
According to USNEWS, Islamic extremists struck the French Embassy and Burkina Faso army headquarters in coordinated attacks of gunfire and explosives.
Different leaders condemned the attack and condoled with Burkina Faso residents for the lives lost.
Through his twitter account President Kagame said “Our condolences to the people of Burkina Faso for lives lost in today’s terrorist attack in Ouagadougou. In solidarity with my brother President Roch Kabore in the fight against terror in the Sahel,”
According to BBC, Burkina Faso Security Minister Clement Sawadogo said there had also been a suicide car bomb attack at the military HQ that may have intended to target a regional anti-terrorism meeting.
A room was destroyed by the blast, he said, but the meeting had been moved to another location.
In a statement, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attack saying that the United Nations will support Burkina Faso in its efforts to fight violent extremism and terrorism.
He also called on the world’s nations to promote national reconciliation and create the conditions for sustainable peace and development in Burkina Faso
Participants at the Mardi Gras Party were hosted in Marriott’s Soko Restaurant that is usually renowned for serving delectable cuisines like Belgian, Indian, Turkish, African and more.
Mardi Gras is the most popular carnival celebrated in Brazil and other Latin America countries.
From 6pm to 11pm, guests enjoyed dishes commonly known in Brazil and cocktails that are mainly served in Caribbean countries. Congenially hot Latin entertainment spiced up the banquets as Marriott staff interacted with the visitors, wishing one another to enjoy the Brazilian delicacies.
Kigali Marriott’s Restaurant Lounge Manager, Kunal Amit, told IGIHE that Marriott is ever striving to serve the best and diverse cuisines to provide guests with a range of choices to break routine foods and keep the appetites high.
“This country is going to boom. So far I have seen many tourists coming in; so if you give them only the African food, they will definitely get enough of it and miss their favourite food from other parts of the world. The African and Brazilian food mixed together makes something new and this is something people like,” he said.
Amit went on saying “This is a kind of union – unity and diversity. You can get fed up with having the same food or same buffet. Sometimes you need to celebrate something so people get excited to come here to see something different. That’s why we are celebrating tonight.”
He said Brazilian food is like a mixture of African and European cuisines, meaning that it has some taste of African and European cuisines.
Kigali Marriott’s Executive Sous Chef Awanish Joshi said Mardi Gras Party showcased Brazilian barbecue, a good meat selection and other popular dishes that are served in Brazil.
