Through the teacher training programme in Rwanda, the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) joined hands with Airtel Rwanda, Chancen International and the Ministry of Education to execute a teacher appreciation campaign which started on Thursday, November 18.
The campaign, which will end on December 5, is an annual programme that aims to foster a culture of appreciating Rwandan teachers for their hard work in nurturing and educating children.
The three weeks programme themed "Teachers, Our everyday Heroes” will culminate with an awarding ceremony to celebrate over 150 teachers and education leaders across the nation.
One hundred twenty of these teachers already exist and work with the AIMS teacher training program (TTP) in 14 districts of Rwanda, and the rest are non-TTP teachers and will receive awards on behalf of their respective communities.
Hammez Emmanuel, the Managing Director of Airtel Rwanda during the press conference on November 18, 2021. Dan Nsengiyumva
Lydie Hakizimana, CEO at AIMS said during a media briefing that teachers are the backbone of the nation, which is why everyone should appreciate them.
"We are confident that every act of teacher empowerment will bring us closer to the overarching goal of our teacher training program, which aims to improve stem learning outcomes for secondary school students and build a pipeline of talented African scientists,” she said.
Airtel Rwanda Managing Director, Emmanuel Hamez, said that without teachers, there wouldn’t be a future for the country.
"Airtel is proud to be associated with Rwandan teachers through a partnership with AIMS and we are delighted to part in this campaign that will culminate in the recognition and rewarding of the best teachers in Rwanda.”
Lydie Hakizimana African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
"I am a product of my teachers and so are all the staff of Airtel and as such, this campaign is close to our hearts as we seek to give back our teachers,” Hamez said during a presser.
To him, it’s very important that teachers get access to a good internet to serve better students, and from that, he called Rwandans to use Airtel’s internet which is more affordable and fast.
According to Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), this program is a necessity because it doesn’t only appreciate teachers, but also help them provide good education to students.
So far, 4000 teachers were trained in gender-responsive pedagogy to improve learning outcomes in mathematics and stem for secondary school students according to the Director of TTP, Herine Otieno-Menya.
The campaign program will run under the theme ‘teachers-our Everyday Heroes” with RwThankTeacher, MwarimuWanjye and TeachersMakeUs as the official hashtags to drive and track effective online conversations.
The national wide campaign is open to all who will take this opportunity to reach out through social media and share stories about how their favourite teachers impacted their lives, in addition to a fundraising initiative that will be done via Airtel Money to recognise and reward teachers.