Forty teachers from over 15 schools in Rwanda have been trained in the International Certificate of Teaching Mastery by the Teachers Without Borders (TWB); a worldwide association of teachers based in the United States of America.

"The training is meant to equip teachers with mentorship qualities, knowledge and skills,” TWB Regional Coordinator for Africa, Raphael Ogal Oko, told The Sunday Times yesterday.
"The trainees graduated as trainers of trainers in their respective schools and communities.”

According to Oko, the certificate is a free, self-paced and mentor supervised teacher professional development program consisting of five courses designed by and for educators.

It is informed by a global perspective and addresses a pressing need for competent, culturally-attuned, contemporary, concise, practical, and accelerated teacher training that leads to student achievement.

Ogal Oko said that TWB core programs for teachers include Empowering Teachers Programs that involve the Certificate of Teaching Mastery; the Global Online Learning Platform, and TWB Toolset.

"These programs will be covered in partnership with Cisco, MIT and Rice University, and Hewlett Foundation,” he said.
Oko revealed that TWB was founded in 2000 in the USA with a mission of supporting teacher leaders worldwide.

It has a membership of 160 countries, programs and partnership in 26 countries, Rwanda included.

According to Oko, TWB’s curricula was adopted by the World Bank and was also certificated by U.S. universities.

"TWB programs support the founding vision of the United Nations, the MDGs and National 21st century visions of which the Rwanda’s Vision 2020 lies.”

The Rwanda Program Coordinator, Robert Mugabe, said that the upcoming sessions will be conducted in other provinces countrywide.

"The sessions will also cover skills and basics of learning and teaching in English since it is a government initiative to make English the official language of instruction in schools,” he said.

Nyamata High School, Apred Indera, Apape, Lycee de Kigali, Apace, St. Andrews, Kagarama, and School of Finance and Banking, were among the schools represented.

The three day training that ended July 30 took place at New Hope Technical Institute, Nyakabanda. It was organized and sponsored by the Teachers Without Borders in collaboration with the Universal Peace Movement in Rwanda.

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