The Ministry of Education and Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) have extended the internship period for education students from three months to a whole year.Meeting with head teachers, Principals and District Education Officers (DEOs), the Minister of Education, Dr Vincent Biruta, last week said teacher trainees will now spend their fourth year — which is the final year — in teaching practice."The objective of increasing the period for internships among students pursuing their respective degree and diploma courses is aimed at improving their practical teaching skills, and I believe it will help them become more professional teachers.” Biruta said.He said the decision which becomes effective in September, will affect students from KIE, Kavumu College of Technology and Rukara College of Technology.According to the minister, research shows that teachers who complete an extended internship programme are far much better than those in more traditional programmes.He added that the internship programme will also be responsible for teacher development and management policy which emphasizes the role of mentors in the development of teachers."I want to assure head teachers and DEOs that there is full government support in ensuring that teachers give quality education as this will contribute significantly to sustainable development of our nation” Dr Biruta said.Meanwhile Dr Mathias Harebamungu, State Minister in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, announced that the ministry plans to begin registering and issuing teaching licenses to all teachers in the country to prevent cases of quacks without the requisite teaching skills and qualifications.He said the ministry had finished putting in place all the logistics that will be used in the internships, adding that they will also provide technical support to the schools where the students will be dispatched.Harebamungu noted that currently there are about 1,362 secondary schools in the country where education students will go for their internships.In an interview with The New Times, Prof. Wenceslas Nzabalirwa, the Vice Rector in charge of Academics at KIE, said about 1,200 students from his institution will this year join the programme."This programme will help to build the students’ professional capacity in their teaching careers and to love their job” Nzabalirwa said.He added that before going for the internships, students will first have to complete their studies and pass all the exams for the third year.Nzabalirwa told The New Times there over 3000 students in the daytime programme who are currently pursuing Bachelors’ degree courses in various disciplines at KIE.Jean Claude Munyemana, a third year student at KIE, welcomed the move, saying it will help beneficiaries get systematic mentoring on the best teaching practices.  "The internship programme will enable us achieve greater confidence and experience in our career. I am optimistic that this will enable students we will teach to get quality education” Munyemana said.