Schools urged to embrace skills labs and business clubs

Since a skills lab and business clubs were introduced at Ecole Secondaire Nyamirama in Kayonza District along with the competence –based curriculum this year, students no longer regard what they learn as mere far-fetched theory but rather practical work which is relevant to their needs. Harriet Mansikombi, an entrepreneurship teacher at the school, says that with these initiatives, students have been able to make various products to the surprise of parents and teachers. “I have taught entrepreneurship for 10 years, but I have been teaching it like history; come and give notes, and they pass with As but with no clue on how to use the acquired skills. “Previously, I used to teach innovation and creativity but I wouldn’t give students a chance to come up with products from their environment. However, after going through the training on how skills lab work, I went back to my school and taught the same lesson better; I told the students to go, explore the environment and come up with products. Students surprised me,” she says. Mansikombi says some of the products students are making include baskets, bags and cakes. She says through the skills lab and business clubs, students have got time to showcase their talents and skills. Mansikombi made the remarks at a recent one-day exchange programme awareness meeting in Kigali organised by Educate!. The meeting, which brought together various stakeholders including entrepreneurship teachers, headmasters and district education officers from the Northern and Eastern provinces, aimed at clarifying approaches and tools that will be used in the implementation of the competence-based entrepreneurship curriculum and defining ways of collaboration with stakeholders at district, sector and school level. The exchange programme is supporting the implementation of the competence-based curriculum, which was launched in schools in January. The programme is being implemented by various partners, among them, Educate!, Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA) and Innovation for Poverty Action in collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board (REB). The programme is being implemented in 104 schools from 11 districts in the Northern, Eastern and Western provinces. Antoine Mutsinzi, the director of teacher training and development at the Rwanda Education Board, told participants in the meeting that the previous curriculum and teaching methodology had a practicals gap, explaining that students who did physics, for instance, could not do simple car repairs. “Nothing gratifies a student more than seeing a tangible product he/she has produced using the knowledge and skills they acquired from school. The subject of entrepreneurship was previously taught theoretically and could not therefore benefit students effectively,” he said. Mutsinzi commended the contribution of Educate and Akazi Kanoze for the introduction of the skills lab and business clubs. “The liquid soap that students are making can be bought by the school and the money used for student development,” he noted. Kaiso Anthony Muzito, the innovations coordinator at Educate!, said the exchange programme intends to equip students with skills to be innovative and to generate solutions to problems in their communities. However, challenges remain in the implementation of the programme, including school administrations that are not supportive. With over 21,000 teachers trained on how to implement the competence-based curriculum in January, Mutsinzi remains optimistic that with cooperation from all stakeholders, especially schools, the porgramme will be successfully implemented.