Kigali mayor calls for quality education

The mayor of the City of Kigali, Fidele Ndayisaba, has urged educationists to pay closer attention to students in order to improve their performance. “Most of the students are eager to learn. Teachers should take advantage of this,” he said.Ndayisaba was addressing an annual  training workshop of District  and Sector Education Officers  in  Kigali on  Tuesday.

Friday, December 27, 2013
Kigali mayor, Fidele Ndayisaba has urged teachers to put emphasis on quality education. The New Times/ File.

The mayor of the City of Kigali, Fidele Ndayisaba, has urged educationists to pay closer attention to students in order to improve their performance."Most of the students are eager to learn. Teachers should take advantage of this,” he said.Ndayisaba was addressing an annual  training workshop of District  and Sector Education Officers  in  Kigali on  Tuesday. "Strategies like the Kigali Master Plan and Vision 2020 can only be possible if we develop an  skilled human resource,” he said.Ndayisaba  cautioned school  authorities against mismanaging government property."The government spends a lot of money in providing  these services. It is your responsibility to guarantee their proper usage,” he said.Ndayisaba also cautioned teachers against unethical conduct, saying it undermines their profession.Hope Tumukunde, the City of Kigali vice-mayor in charge of Social affairs, said the workshop was part of  preparations  for the 2014 academic year, due in January ."We are here to make a post-mortem of this year’s performance, identify the challenges and possible solutions,” Tumukunde said.Tumukunde added that the City of Kigali is involved in orientation, inspection, training and  monitoring of  the education sector in  the three districts of Nyarugenge, Gasabo and Kicukiro, that make up Kigali.Statistics from  the three districts indicate that  a total of 146 new classrooms were constructed, while 48 primary and 122 secondary education teachers were recruited this year. In addition, a total of  25 new staff quarters were constructed in Nyarugenge and Gasabo districts.Kimenyi Burakali, the Gasabo District Education Officer, said the biggest challenge is that of parents pledging money to support schools, and then fail to deliver on their promises.