Beatha Ahishakiye received a motorcycle and a flat-screen TV from the Ministry of Education on the World Teachers’ Day, celebrated October 5 for being the ‘Best Primary School Teacher’.   Ahishakiye teaches Mathematics, Kinyarwanda, Technology and Social Studies at Ecole Primaire Gafunzo, Sake Sector in Ngoma District.   Her class is made up of 134 students who study in two shifts.   "I love teaching, it is my calling,” says Ahishakiye, 48.   The mother-of-five who endures a daily 45-minute commute to reach the school always arrives before 7 am, and her class starts at 7:20 am.

Ahishakiye's prizes were a reward for being the best primary school teacher in the country. / Jean de Dieu Nsabimana   She uses a number of approaches to boost performance, memory, sociability and even hygiene among her students, who are six to seven years old.   She uses materials that are easy to find in the community, such as clay, dry banana leaves, and plastic bottles that take different shapes when exposed to fire, among others — mostly to make toys that simplify learning for the pupils.   "It makes the pupils learn mathematics in a practical way, without ever thinking that mathematics is just what they write in notebooks with pens, or what I write on the blackboard with chalk,” she says.   The overall average of her students’ performance was 82 per cent in the last district examinations, the best P2 level performance in the district.   Initiatives   Among Ahishakiye’s many initiatives is a rabbit farm project she started with her students to boost their learning.   She bought a few rabbits and gave them to students; when one rabbit gives birth, the student who was keeping it passes the mother rabbit to another student and then keeps the bunnies. And so on.   "I started with those whose attendance in class was volatile. This made them interested in coming to school. 20 children in the class own rabbits.   "The students have grown to feel loved at school because they are treated like their parents would treat them,” she explains.   Isibo   The students were divided into small ‘families’, dubbed Isibo, which make every member of the group responsible for another.   "They help each other in studying, keeping hygiene, and so on. As a result, even when I am not in the class, they cannot make noise, they cannot be distracted, because of the materials available in the classroom,” she says.   "My class is equipped,” she says, laughing.   Ahishakiye continues, "When a student is absent since almost all of them are neighbours and live in the same village, one reports another’s problem, saying, ‘he/she is not coming today because he/she is sick’.”   This, she says, allows her to know her students’ problems, as they know each other, which in turn, helps her curb absenteeism.   There is also a box of hygienic tools in Ahishakiye’s classroom; when a child comes to school with a dirty uniform, she goes to the administration office to borrow school clothing which the student wears, as the dirty uniform is washed and dried by the school workers.   Speaking of the awards, Ahishakiye says, "It shows good leadership, it shows that they think about us.”   Though she enjoys teaching children at such a young age, her wish is that she gets allowed to teach the level she is qualified for; secondary school, which would come with a salary boost.   She majored in education studies at Teacher Training Centre (TTC) Save, Gisagara District, and then graduated with majors in biology, chemistry, and education from Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), today’s University of Rwanda, College of Education.   Ahishakiye and her husband are planning to use the motorcycle they received as a taxi-moto (public transportation). There is also a possibility of selling it so they get capital for another business.

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