Groupe Scolaire Rutobwe in Kamonyi District has over two hundred students majoring in various science courses.

Among them is Christine Muhawenimana, 17, in Senior Five and she is offering Chemistry, Geography, and Biology.

She has always been passionate about sciences but when she joined the science class last year, the routine of having a teacher in front talking to her for four hours started to erode her passion.

"I still loved sciences but it started to get less attractive to me, I wanted to have fun and learn at the same time. But now, with all the information I need to be exposed to me, software and internet in one room, my passion has never been stronger,” Muhawenimana told The New Times on Thursday, February 6.

This she said after she had just entered the most improved smart classroom she has ever seen.

Her new class accommodates 50 students, each with their own computer. It has a smart projector installed with smart chalk-like writing and an eraser.

Muhawenimana’s new computer has a storage capacity of 1 terabyte, a faster processor and uses 4G internet installed in the class.

She also enjoys the environment that comes with it including air conditioning, clean furniture, smart science-friendly software installed in her computer to name a few.

Muhawenimana’s smart classroom is the first of its kind in the whole Kamonyi district and among only 14 in the whole country.

It was launched on Thursday by African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in partnership with MasterCard Foundation, an essential partner.  

The day also saw Muhawenimana’s Mathematics teacher, and other 100 teachers countrywide, graduate from 2-month training International Computer Driving License (ICDL) that qualifies them to use the smart classroom efficiently.

"The new smart classroom eases sciences teaching process. Now we are no longer stuck to textbooks, students use the internet to learn. This will certainly expose them to the wider world, improve critical thinking and innovative skills,” Muhayimana Samuel, ICT and Mathematics teacher at G.S. Rutobwe.

Dr Herine Otieno, Director for AIMS Teacher Training Program Rwanda, said having strong scientists should start from where they are begotten.

"Teachers are firsthand developers. If they are trained and understand well how sciences are learnt and taught radically, then we can hope for better future scientists,” she said.

Further plans

The science-friendly classroom was launched in 14 districts that were found in most need. But according to Otieno, the initiative wishes to go even further.

By 2021, over 3,000 teachers will have been trained under the Teachers Leadership Initiative by MasterCard foundation and AIMS. The more trained teachers, the more rooms in more schools.

The Ministry of Education that was also represented in the launch, expressed their interest in furthering ICT integration in schools.

The representative said that the rest 16 districts will benefit from the already existing smart classrooms program by the Ministry of Education.

Smart classrooms (PDF file) that are usually used in ICT courses use made-in-Rwanda computers. The class uses ordinary chalkboards and is not fluent enough in teaching sciences, according to teacher Samuel Muhayimana.

Smart classrooms were initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2018 with the aim of integrating ICT pedagogy and skills in education.

Today, over 1600 smart classrooms have been set up in schools across the country.