Rwanda’s education has gone through great changes that can so far be considered successful. One of these dramatic changes is the shifting from the Francophone system to Anglophone. This sudden switch came with so many difficulties and they still exist today.

Professional teachers had done their courses in French but suddenly they had to start teaching using the English language. Although many lost their jobs, others who were flexible rushed for English classes and begun to use the little they learnt to teach their students. This has been going on since 2010 to date. Though not very efficient, it is working.

Rwanda, like many other countries that use English as a second language, has encountered the problem of low English proficiency in its education system. Teachers and learners, though trying hard, find it difficult to use English to while teaching or writing exams. But now that we are part of the East African Community, we should improve our proficiency in the language so as to fit in the new society. Change is inevitable and therefore we should try our best to work on this starting with teachers.

Our education system is now at the same level with the rest of the countries in East Africa but are our students at the same wave length as the others? 

One of the main problems is that our teachers focus more on accuracy than fluency. John Kay, an English teacher trainer who works with the British Council, says teachers should focus more on fluency and then accuracy and grammar mistakes can be worked upon later. When a student is used to speaking the language, it is easier to correct his mistakes as he speaks. 

Teachers hold the key to the improvement of English proficiency. Paulson Babu, a teacher at King David, argues that teachers tend to use Kinyarwanda in class but it is disastrous because at the end of the day, this student will have to sit an exam in English. So why are teachers doing this? 

John Rwema, a teacher at the Institute of Rusororo, argues: "Although teachers have the content, their English is limited and as a result, they insist on the use of Kinyarwanda while teaching to make sure student have understood.”

Nobody is to blame for low English proficiency because of the reasons explained above. Nevertheless, there should be a collective effort by everyone concerned to see Rwanda’s future elites speak English language fluently and proficiently. 

Kantesha Bellancilla, an English teacher in EFOTEC, ES kanombe, says English should be used during meetings and assemblies in order     so that students and teachers can take the language seriously   especially while in the school environment.

In many schools, English is only used for teaching but dumped for the mother tongue as soon as the teachers or students step out of class. Consequently, this affects their proficiency in English. 

I do believe that one way of learning and speaking any language fluently is by practising it. If we desire to see Rwanda’s scholars compete at the international level, fluency in English is very crucial and should be worked upon.

Juliet Kyobeine, a member of Association of English Teachers in Rwanda (ATER), adds: "A conducive environment for speaking English should be created in all schools to motivate students and every one in the school community to use it. Only perfectly practising English can make us speak it perfectly.”

Quality education will only be achieved if we apply the principle of putting first things first. This compels me to think that language used while teaching is among the first things that we should put a lot of attention.  

Jackie Mutoni, a former student of Cornerstone Leadership Academy-Rwanda, and one of the best performing students in the 2013 national exams, says: "English is one of the major factors that contributed to my academic success. Knowing English helped me to read and understand questions easily and hence answer them correctly.” 

"At the beginning of this year I was able to pass a job interview partly because of the way I expressed my self and ideas in English,” she adds.

Another solution to the problem of low English Proficiency according to Bright Ntambara, a student at Bridge2 Rwanda Scholars, is to promote a culture of reading,

"The more you read the more you understand a language. Reading improves one’s grammar and vocabulary and eventually it improves on the critical thinking of a person,” Ntambara notes.

The world today is moving towards the merit system and this throws an inescapable challenge to us to prepare our kids for competition at the world stage.

English teachers should also be flexible by sometimes taking the back seat and allow students to go infront of the class to discuss and express their views. This instills confidence in the students and enhances their speaking skills. 

English lessons should be learner-centred so that students get enough time to express themselves in English. In the long run, this method will help both the teacher and the learner. As John Kay puts it, "we have to empathise with students, we have to make the situation as Authentic as possible and we have to really Respect the student’s ability to speak. In fact we need Empathy, Authenticity and Respect; we need a good EAR.”

The future of Rwanda is to a large extent in the hands of our teachers and if we all work together, the future will be so bright. We should know that English is not only a lesson but our means of communication with the rest of the world and if it’s so today, it will be more so tomorrow.

The writer is a teacher at ESSA Nyarugunga