New curriculum will not solely fix the education challenges

Recently, ELE Rwanda—a non-governmental organization whose mission is to inspire, motivate and empower the youth to be active participants in the economy and development of Rwanda—announced that they needed to hire a project manager. The main requirement was a bachelor‘s degree. Within two weeks after the announcement, the number of applicants was 103, all of them holders of bachelor‘s degrees. But it turned out, that all applicants were unemployable, thus none was considered for the job. This ugly reality is shocking, but hardly surprising. The issue of unemployable graduates is not new. Generally, this unfortunate fact has been blamed on poor quality of education which students supposedly receive. In response to this issue, Rwanda educationists introduced education reforms in 2009. However, after six years, failed to meet expectations of designers. The fact that recent graduates prove unemployable despite reforms in Education can rightfully be blamed on one of two things. Reforming education is either an irrelevant cure or relevant but insufficient cure to a complicated epidemic. But we all know that as the world changes, the market demands change too. Education definitely has too keep up with these changes in order to equip students with needed skills. Therefore the latter possibility turns out more likely, which begs a critical question: What else needs fixing? Students’ choice of study needs to be supported, mandatory and venerated. The policy of allocating majors to students according to their national results, rather than their talents and interests is counterproductive. Perhaps the best way to understand this is to talk to some students who are doing nursing at the University of Rwanda and recently attended Global Innovations in nursing and midwifery conference. “I did nursing because Rwanda Education Board assigned it to me,” one student told me after the conference. “It is not my passion and I do not feel motivated.” Now, we know that attending professional conferences is one best way of growing professionally, alongside engagement in volunteering activities and internships. But how can we expect someone who is not motivated to make the most experience of these programs? Involvement in such activities can secure a good degree, but may not stand for acquired practical skills. And perhaps this accounts for a debacle encountered by ELE applicants, and undoubtedly, many others, either public private or not-for-profit entinties. But, tellingly, REB assigns students, because applicants outnumber available slots at any faculty in University of Rwanda. When a student is denied a chance to study a particular course, it doesn’t always mean that he is unqualified. He can enroll in a private institution and study the same course. But many students accept to study courses assigned to them on scholarships, because they are unable to afford in private institutions. To date, the issue of getting degrees without practical skills is getting worse, which is why Rwanda Education Board will introduce a new curriculum by 2016. But we can’t get different results by doing the same thing. The productivity will not increase unless students are allowed to study what they want. Before fixing the curriculum, Rwanda educationists need to make opportunities of taking a career of one’s choice available to everyone. Resources need to be increased before even a curriculum is developed. The writer is a Bridge2Rwanda scholar.

Opinions

New curriculum will not solely fix the education challenges