No other sector gets as much public scrutiny as education does. With good reason: it affects every individual, each household, community and the whole country in a very direct, immediate and personal way.

When things are going well, everyone is happy. No one comments on that. However, when they are not, or are thought not to be, going quite right, they become a subject for public concern and will be talked about in the most passionate manner. It is a sign that all is not well in the sector, and more, it is a threat to upward mobility. 

The picture that comes out is that nothing gets done right, everything is wrong. All concerned with the country’s education are only stumbling along. The ministry of education gets the rap for that. 

It is, of course, right to be concerned and to make one’s worries known in the most forceful way possible if the intention is to correct what is not right, not merely to condemn. But in the din of slamming the ministry of education for any lapses or other weaknesses, the good things they are doing get drowned or become invisible.

Yet the picture of nothing works is not accurate as I have found out from talking to officials in the education sector, going through their reports and plans, and visiting many schools across the country. A lot of good things are happening but for some reason, some go unnoticed. Perhaps it’s like I said: good things are taken for granted; doing right is expected, but the bad; that’s not normal and cannot be accepted.

In a series of articles, starting with basic education, I will be bringing to your attention some of these unreported happenings in the education sector.

Unquestionably, one of the biggest achievements has been increasing access to education to all children of school-going age. In the last ten years alone 19,462 classrooms have been built (including 34,575 toilets). This translates into space for nearly one million pupils or 1,081 three-stream schools.

In the next two years, another 11,004 schools will be built with support from the World Bank. That too means an additional 600,000 places or the equivalent of 611 three-stream schools.

Students walk to class. / Courtesy

With this number of new school places, the double shift in primary schools will be phased out. It was, in any case, an interim measure and proved to be a burden on both pupils and teachers.

It is not only access that has improved. Distances that pupils walk to school have been drastically reduced.

Not many people have serious issues with access. The new schools are visible and many of them had a hand in their construction.

The issue of greatest dissatisfaction has been with something called quality. Now, most people have an idea of what they mean by quality, but in a vague way. They cannot define it and so are mostly not able to propose what can be done to improve it.

But the fact that we are talking about it in this way does not mean that there are no efforts to improve it. Many things are being done.

Increasing access is one of them, although some do not recognise the link with quality. More classrooms mean smaller class sizes and a better learning environment in terms of teacher-pupil contact and the use of learning materials. The new classrooms, too, provide a friendlier climate for learning. Equally, when pupils and teachers do not have long distances to walk to school, they have more time for their lessons.

Five years ago, the Rwanda Education Board (REB) introduced a new curriculum for primary and secondary schools– the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).  It was a shift from mere acquisition of knowledge to emphasis on its application. It rose out of the need to focus on skills and attitudes, and on solutions that students should acquire in order to address Rwanda’s specific challenges but also compete on the world stage. It is meant to balance academic goals with obtaining skills for the world of work.

This was perhaps one of the most thorough reforms ever undertaken in the education sector in this country. It took more than three years of review, design, and consultations, and involved Rwandan education experts as well as expatriate partners. 

The exercise also involved the review, development, and production of appropriate teaching and learning materials, training of teachers in the new curriculum, assessment and inspection of the learning process.

The Ministry of Education has created its own publishing house to produce teaching materials for primary and secondary schools in the country. This includes textbooks that are all in line with the new competency-based curriculum and conform to international standards. The content is written in the Rwandan context whereby tasks and activities of learners are based on the learner’s socio-cultural environment to match the content with the real experience. They are intended to promote positive attitudes and values among learners.

There is something that is not well-known about the CBC. It was the result of a decision by countries of the East African Community (EAC) to harmonise curricula in the region and align them with the times. Rwanda happens to have been faster than the other partner states in implementing this decision, which in any case is in line with national aspirations.

In the past, the teaching of disciplines to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at all levels of education was mainly theory-based and very little practical education. At primary level, Science and Elementary Technology (SET) subject was introduced in the new competency-based curriculum as learner-centered with constructivist approach across both the lower and upper levels of primary education. 

At secondary level the competence-based science curriculum is split into the three sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics) plus Mathematics and ICT, and the learner is to be actively involved in the learning process. The curriculum includes theory and practical with learning outcomes specified for experiments and requires science equipment for each subject, ICT tools and other needs including internet connectivity. 

The ICT subject is taught using Positivo Laptops and other computers where available. At upper secondary level, a main strategy has been to identify science schools of Excellence in each District with three fully-equipped labs and equipment, one for each science subject. Strategies also included establishing science corners in primary schools using existing classroom space and providing science kits to schools where a lab could not be built.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is one of the innovative projects in basic education that aims at enhancing education through the introduction of technology in primary schools. The OLPC project uses XO laptop which is a potent learning tool designed and built especially for children. It has enabled students to learn by doing through graphically rich, animated, interactive digital content and gaming. The Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Education, has been distributing OLPC laptops to primary school students in Rwanda since 2009. The current laptop deployment currently stands at over 274,056 laptops in 1618 schools across the country.

The use of ICT in education is considered an important strategy for achieving Rwanda’s transformation. This is also in line with the strategic goal of the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) to strengthen the relevance of education and training to the labour market including the insertion of 21st-century skills. The Smart Classroom is able to bring 21st-century education systems to Rwanda, through the inclusion of new, relevant and ICT based technologies. The Smart Classroom is available for Primary and Secondary, allowing for smooth integration of teaching and learning at all levels. More than 735 smart classrooms across the country have been set up in schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

The aim is to bring about positive change both for teachers and learners.

To support the process of learning through doing the Ministry plans to introduce Robotics in basic education. This is to supplement Rwanda’s strategic plan in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] education through promoting robots in the already established smart classrooms in Rwanda and exposing young students to these technologies so that they can be creative and ably solve problems that surround them. This will support critical thinking through coding and robotics programming.

In order to raise the quality of STEM teaching in schools a programme is ongoing to utilise educational technology in delivery of teaching STEM subjects. The strategy includes: (a) increase teacher content knowledge; (b) improve classroom teaching practices; (c) ensure availability of critical teaching materials and ICT tools in the classroom, and (d) provide continuous support to teachers in their work. Efforts are also being undertaken to identify the best talents at an early age. Examples of such programmes include the Rwanda Coding Academy, the Digital Multi-media Centre and Incubation Centres being introduced in various IPRCs.

In order to continually improve the quality of teaching and learning a comprehensive student assessment system has been set up, involving annual year-end testing by the Rwanda Education Board for students in all grades except for those where students sit for national examinations (i.e., P6, S3, and S6); and end-of-semester tests administered by Districts to students in all primary and secondary grades. Improving learning outcomes is a key goal of Rwanda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) and the development of a reliable system for assessing learning achievement is essential to provide objective evidence of progress in realizing this goal.

Rwanda has developed a national learning assessment - the Learning Achievement in Rwandan Schools (LARS) to evaluate learning outcomes based on the criteria and expectations set by the national curriculum.  In a push to strengthen teacher competency in English, all teachers in the upper primary and secondary grades will sit for a standardized English test, which gauges baseline competency enables support for self-learning and provides incentives to attain, within three years, the competency level recommended for teachers.

In a bid to promote the culture of innovation and creativity in education, in schools, and motivate and recognize students, teachers, headteachers Sector Education Officers’ efforts and other stakeholders involved in advancing education policies and programmes at grass root level, the ministry awarded the students who have come up with innovations together with their trainers. These awards were based on best practices that contribute to implementation of Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC/CBT), together with awards to outstanding performing Teachers; Head Teachers; and Sector Education Inspectors.

Countrywide Quality Education Enhancement Awareness Campaigns are being undertaken with the objective of strengthening in-class Quality of Teaching and Learning that mostly emphasises on presence of teachers and learners; students’ active participation and preparation of teaching lessons. The campaign is aimed at reinforcing the engagement of different education stakeholders including district and sector education officials; teachers; learners; parents; School General Assembly Committees; among others. In addition to the focus on classroom and pedagogical issues the campaign also tackles areas including hygiene and sanitation and other extra-curriculum activities at school.

The education sector has significant support from key partners such as: DFID through the Building Learning Foundations (BLF) programme which focuses on establishing solid foundations at lower primary level-P1, P2, and P3 in all schools; USAID who support the Government of Rwanda to improve early-grade reading outcomes in Kinyarwanda, and to enhance investments in teacher training, teaching and learning materials; UNICEF who intervene in areas such as governance, inclusive education and quality education; World Bank who are supporting in many areas including skills and quality basic education; Sweden who support development of research capacity in Rwanda, general university institutional development, and PhD scholarships; MasterCard Foundation though their Leaders in Teaching (LIT) programme; and KOICA especially through their ICT support to IPRCs including the ICT Innovation Centre.

An education system is as good as its teachers, so conventional wisdom goes. The best curriculum in the world, availability of all the required instructional materials, and state of the art classrooms will not necessarily produce the best students. For this, you need good, motivated, and well-educated teachers. 

In the last decade or so, the ministry of education has been doing just that: training more teachers and making the teaching profession attractive to the best talents.

That started with the creation of the Kigali Institute of Education (now the College of Education of the University of Rwanda) more than twenty years ago for the training of secondary school teachers. That was followed by the consolidation of training institutions for primary school teachers into sixteen Teacher Training Colleges and a review of their curriculum to bring it into line with the competency-based curriculum.

The increase in the number of teachers in the last ten years, which reflects an expansion of the education system, has been phenomenal. In 2011, there was a total of 53, 991 teachers in public primary and secondary schools- 37,038 and 16,593 in primary and secondary schools respectively. Today that number stands at 73,615 in total – 47,438 and 26,177 in the respective two levels.

In the next few years, that number is bound to grow, as will the quality of teachers, because of new incentives intended to attract some of the best minds into teaching.

The important ones include the government’s offer to offset part of the cost of pre-service training, special opportunities for further education, and reward for staying in the profession. Specifically, the capacity building of teachers is being strengthened through ensuring appropriate pre-service training in TTCs and model schools where TTC Students go for teaching practice. In 2019-2020 the best performing students were attracted to join TTCs, through granting them scholarships whereby 50% of tuition fees is covered by the Government contribution. Other capacity-building strengthening is carried through in-service training;

In addition to a 10% salary increase, teachers continue to access soft low-interest loans through Umwalimu SACCO, free scholarships provided a teacher teaches for at least 3 years (primary) and 5 years (secondary). There is also recognition of teacher professional status through grades for teachers and CPD programs undertaken.

The results are already beginning to show. This year, applicants to join teacher training colleges far outstripped available places. A total of 56,043 students made teaching their first or second choice, competing for only 3,813 available places in TTCs.

One can only say when these graduate in three years time, we will have some of the best teachers this country has ever had. Saying that the future is bright is no exaggeration.