The Majority of commentators agree that for a poor nation to develop at a pace worthy of acknowledgement, her people must be equipped with skills necessary to contribute to overall production. This claim is all more valid when the country in question has no known natural resources to rely on for revenues and all that serves as the engine for economic growth is human capital. What this means is that the education system of such a nation must have the capacity to continuously produce citizens with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes that can enable them to fulfil workplace obligations as well as contribute meaningfully to national development. And by skills, knowledge and attitudes, I am referring to a set of attributes taught both within and outside a typical classroom; the entire education system must be competent and flexible to develop doctors, lawyers, engineers, and journalists, the same way it must be responsive to market demands of highly qualified plumbers, electricians, beauticians, and carpenters. In the past, education played a critical role in giving some developed countries such as the Unites States and, to a large extent, most European countries the economic edge over others, particularly in the late 19th century. Experts believe that what these nations did differently was to first acknowledge education as the vehicle needed to equip citizens with the right skills, and secondly, to understand the need to offer free basic education to their citizens in order to meet set goals. Recently, nations such as Singapore have applied similar measures with outstanding results. At any rate, assuming that we all have a consensus upon the importance of a competent education system, why is it that much of this understanding has not necessarily translated into sound education systems that match supply of, and demand for, skilled labour? In this piece, I intend to point out two things high-performing education systems are doing differently as a contribution to the ongoing debate of how best we can improve our education system. However, before considering measures undertaken by high performers, it is necessary to first acknowledge our very own mainly, including the Rwandan government, for continuously improving the education sector – an area that was all but non-existent two decades ago, partly because of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which robbed us of human capital, and partly because of poor governance structures in post-independent Rwanda, which relied heavily on foreign expatriates at the expense of developing local workforce. Having said that, there are important lessons we can learn from countries such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. In fact, there are lessons for all of us to learn, especially if we realise that only continued revision will lead to a better system, after all no single high-performing system emerged perfectly-formed. Professionalise teaching: Countries with high-performing education systems such as Singapore have focused exemplarily on transforming the teaching profession by continued professional development and paying teachers competitively. First, after recognising the need for teachers to keep up with the rapid changes occurring in the world, Singapore implemented a policy that requires all teachers to undergo up to 100 hours of professional development per year. What this means is that teachers are able to grasp changes taking place, and in turn be in a position to curate teaching techniques to reflect these changes. Secondly, policymakers in the UK, for instance, believed that, like any other profession, if you want to attract the best of the best, you have to remunerate them competitively. By making the teaching profession attractive pay-wise, it means that even those with different backgrounds can indeed train to become teachers, which can potentially lead to a variety of talents flocking into the profession. It is absolutely necessary that salaries of teachers remain equally as attractive as other professions for new graduates so that excellent teachers are attracted and retained. Embrace talent diversity Countries with high-performing education systems have also developed high-level academic standards, accompanied by a high-quality curriculum which takes into account the various talents of students. What this means is that from an early age, the education system has to remain flexible to enable all students to reach their potential while recognising that all students do not grow academically at the same time, nor excel in similar areas. There is a need to tailor education to the abilities and interests of students and not necessarily to the wishes of parents, teachers, and others with influence. What we need to bear in mind is that national development will not only be driven by doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers. For an economy to develop fully, we also need technicians, bakers, beauticians, law enforcers etc. By and large, there are many lessons we can draw from high performing education systems.But, while different countries have achieved their success in different ways, there are two key points on which they all agree and practice; first, they all agree that the teaching profession must be elevated in order to attract and retain excellent teachers. Secondly, and perhaps equally crucial, they also agree that the education system mustn’t use a one-size-fits-all approach, instead, the system must reflect an increasingly competitive global economy that requires now more than ever innovation, creativity and research. You see, unlike in the past, strange things are happening in today’s economy; Alibaba, the world’s most valuable retailer, has no inventory; Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no fleet; AirBnb, the largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate; and Facebook, the most popular media owner, creates no content. The name of the game is innovation, creativity, and research. Email: junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk
