Rwanda has achieved significant success in providing universal access to primary education, but the ensuing increase in student enrolment called for a matching increase in classrooms and related infrastructures, as well as in the number of teachers.

Since 2020, the Government of Rwanda with the support of the World Bank funded Rwanda Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project has recruited over 52,000 teachers and head teachers in a countrywide recruitment exercise with the goal of enhancing school capacity and improving education delivery.

Speaking to The New Times, Emmanuel Shyaka, Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) Coordinator at Rwanda Basic Education Basic (REB) highlighted the importance of teacher recruitment in strengthening the capacity of the school system.

"The teacher recruitment process is an activity directed towards attracting sufficient and suitable teacher applications to fill school vacancies. Given the expected increase in student enrolment every year, institutions in charge of teacher recruitment are required to plan for the associated need for more teachers across schools.”

Furthermore, 12,520 Primary school teachers have been trained and certified in digital literacy as "Microsoft Innovative Educators," and 1,515 P4-S3 Math and Science teachers have been trained on innovative teaching methods for Math and Science.

Also, a total of 3,128 laptops and 3,128 projectors have been provided to STEM teachers, 3,840 laptops to Public and Government Aided pre-primary schools, and 2,585 Laptops to Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and Model schools’ smart classrooms and tutors.

"We are also planning to provide more than 20,000 laptops for primary school teachers,” Shyaka revealed.

Julienne Mukayisenga, a newly recruited ICT and Mathematics teacher at GS Akumuniho in Nyarugenge District said that she is happy and motivated to play her part in contributing to the development of her country’s education sector.

"It has been a few months since I started teaching and I came in at the right time with the announcement of the teachers’ salary increase. Although this job will help my personal development, I also plan to contribute a lot in education development by innovatively teaching my students so that they can get more knowledge and discipline.”

Evariste Nduwamungu, Head Teacher at GS Jean de la Mennais Kirambo in Burera District mentioned that the IT equipment received will help improve teaching and learning outcomes.

"As a model school, we need to be exemplary in delivering quality education. These learning and teaching materials will help our teachers improve their teaching methods and enable them to transform our students into a reliable future workforce” he said.

"We appreciate the Government of Rwanda and its partners’ collaboration in improving the education sector, and we commit ourselves to double our efforts to improve teaching and learning outcomes.”

The project also includes a component aiming to enhance the early learning environment for pre-primary and lower primary school-age children. As part of this component, 2,603 public and government-aided pre-primary schools have been equipped with 647,000 learners’ textbooks and teacher’s guides, while 3,840 pre-primary classrooms were provided with kits containing teaching and learning materials.

Another key achievement of the Quality Basic Education project has been the construction of 11,004 furnished classrooms and 14,680 latrines, which account for half of the 22,505 classrooms and 31,932 latrines constructed by the government to curb overcrowding in classrooms and reduce distances travelled by students to reach school.

The Rwanda Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project is a five-year US$200 million project financed by the World Bank and implemented by the Ministry of Education, the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), and the National Examinations and School Inspection Authority (NESA).

Recently, the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank Group signed a financial agreement for an Additional Financing of US$129.062 million extending the project till 2027 comprising a US$50 million IDA credit and a US$50 million grant, as well as a co-financing of a US$29.062 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).