KIGALI - The Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), held its sixth graduation ceremony, yesterday, with a total of 1, 210 graduands conferred upon degrees, diplomas and certificates in various disciplines.

The graduation also saw students from Rukara and Kavumu Colleges of Education graduate for the first time since the establishment of the two institutions in 2008. The two colleges are affiliated to KIE.

Out of the 1, 210 graduands, 1, 126 are already teaching at various education institutions in the  country.
From the two colleges, a total of 631 teachers qualified for upper basic (Tronc Commun) with a diploma in education after two years of pre-service in these colleges while three were awarded a diploma in education after their in-service training by distance education.

For Secondary schools, 70 were conferred with a Bachelors Arts with Education, 191 with a Bachelor of Science with education, 131 with a Bachelor of Social Science with education and 65 tutors for primary teacher colleges with a Bachelor of education.

In other fields, 84 graduands were awarded a Bachelor of Business Studies while in KIE’s effort to professionalise teaching in higher education, a total of 35 members of academic staff from KHI and KIE were conferred with a Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Rector of KIE Prof. George Njoroge said that the huge responsibility in regard to quality of teachers rested on the shoulders of KIE and the two colleges.

He however, lauded government’s effort in expanding the colleges and its commitment to funding alternative means of training such as the distance education.

To the graduates, the rector said: "As you prepare to join the hustles of and bustles of work life in your new status, remember that there are many before you and certainly there will be many after you. What will distinguish you from all the others is your positive addition to the world.”

In his address, the State Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr. Mathias Harebamungu said that it would be risky not to consolidate the gains that have been made by the government by investing in the establishment of KIE and the two colleges.

He said that by the year 2020, the projected school teacher demand for primary will be about 52, 000, upper basic will be 33, 000 and upper secondary will be 13, 000.
"This clearly shows that we have to think unusually in matters of teacher development and retention.”

Harebamungu noted that many of the graduates from KIE have ended up in other fields causing a gap that the government has been forced to fill by recruiting teachers from other countries.

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