Education sector: What marked the year 2016

As the year 2016 comes to an end, every sector has had various issues playing out along the journey. In the education sector, several aspects stood out and below, Education Times’ Jean d’Amour Mbonyinshuti looks at events and stories that shaped the education sector. Implementation of the revamped curriculum starts Two years ago, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) through the Rwanda Education Board (REB) unveiled a new curriculum to foster a transition from a knowledge-based to a competency-based approach of teaching. This curriculum that was rolled out this year is expected to enhance learner-centred teaching. It will focus on instruction, assessment, grading with huge focus dwelling on imparting practical skills in learners. The new concept also gives prominence to development programmes and cross-cutting issues such as genocide, environmental sustainability and sex education. Teachers attend the training on sex education in Kigali. Sex education is one of the aspects on the new competency-based curriculum. / File This past year was also about infusing fresh material required for training. This forced REB to set its sights on preparing teachers, improving publications and equipping schools with the necessary materials. Some of the initial steps taken involved engaging publishers at all levels to improve content in the old books and to print new publications. Officials confirmed that publishers have been writing books and REB took the initiative of training and equipping them with details of the new elements. This year, also Kinyarwanda language adjustments in phonology and grammar changes were incorporated in the new text-books and it is currently taught in all schools. Fighting genocide ideology in schools The year 2016 was an opportunity for educationists to beef up plans to deal with genocide ideology that is still prevalent in some schools. Genocide studies have been introduced in the new curriculum for teachers to ensure that schools become the first place students learn to fight all ideologies related to the genocide. Genocide studies are taught as cross-cutting issues in all disciplines to ensure that students remain aware of Rwanda’s past. Other aspects have been introduced in history and citizenship, but these are just two of the long list of subjects. This is to ensure that all students become beneficiaries for a long-term cause of wiping out genocide ideology from schools. Even mathematical approaches are supposed to engage students in a way that encourages resistance towards such issues. TVET targets assessed While some wondered whether it is possible for the government to achieve the target of having 60 per cent of students enrolling in technical and vocational education, officials from the Rwanda Workforce Development Authority (WDA) say they are still optimistic to achieve the set target. Under this policy, only 40 per cent of the total school-going students would proceed with general education. TVET training has been reinforced to ensure more graduates get skills to create their own jobs. / File This approach is meant to produce graduates with sufficient job creation skills to reduce the big number of job seekers who hit the job market every year. Currently there are 384 schools in the country, up from 63 schools in 2010 when TVET started receiving more focus and generally the number has been growing over the years. However, WDA noted challenges of funds to fully roll out the programme which requires about Rwf169bn to implement. The huge amount is for infrastructure development. Researchers urged to do better Several educationalists came forward to question researchers for not playing a core role to use their research findings to impact the societies they live in. While there is evidence for works of their studies in form of books, journals and papers, the applicability of research findings in real life remains a daunting mystery for both scholars and communities. The majority of scholars are interested in completing research studies just to receive academic awards and for long that has been the goal of many, a thing they should shun if they are to impact communities with their researches. Tuition fee for STEM students increased The University of Rwanda increased the tuition fee for science students to cover shortages because the university has for long been spending heavily on students offering sciences. The move came after a cabinet decision earlier that resolved that tuition for the disciplines gets raised from Rwf 600,000 to Rwf 900,000 per year. It was decided that the new tuition charges would start with the academic year that started in September. Officials explained that the essence is that science disciplines go beyond merely delivering notes in the lecture rooms, there is need for greater investment for practicals. Automatic promotion policy challenged The issue of automatic promotion among school-going children has been of a concern among parents, stakeholders and officials from the Ministry of Education. While many say that there’s nothing good in letting students move from one class to another automatically, others argue that to curb the drop-out issue, there is need to ensure that students are not made to repeat classes. Isaac Munyakazi, the new State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, also weighed in on the debate vouching for the revision of the policy on automatic promotion of students. He says that promotion should be earned. Curbing drop-out rates Officials from the Ministry of Education committed to ensure that they work with other stakeholders such as the ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), among others, to curb the dropout rate among school-going children. Figures from MINEDUC for the year 2014 show that 10.3 per cent of primary school learners, 14.4 per cent of O-level students and 5.9 per cent of A-level dropped out of school. Officials said they are working towards minimising challenges that discourage students from attending school such as banning students’ dismissal over school fees and minor offences, or any other forms of issues that can be handled at school level. Officials say the other aspects needed to create a conducive schooling environment such as the school feeding programme, providing free education for all and sensitising parents on their roles will be reinforced. SDGs domestication in education discussed This year saw officials from the United Nations as well as other development partners meet to discuss how to domesticate Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goal 4 and look for ways it can be implemented within the set period. They said the education sector in the country has policies and priorities in place that will ably facilitate the domestication and implementation of SDG4. Goal 4, one of the 17 SDGs, seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The discussions aimed at building a common understanding of SDGs for education by 2030 and ensuring smooth mainstreaming of the goals into the national education system. Officials said priorities that would help achieve SGD 4 include equitable access to Nine and 12-year basic education, improved quality and learning outcomes across primary and secondary education, improved relevance of education and training specifics to the labor market, as well as nurturing demand-driven TVET and higher education. Construction of $150m health varsity in Burera starts The construction of a new international health university, The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), kicked off. UGHE will be a major boost to human resource in the health sector as it will provide world class training for doctors, nurses, healthcare managers and other professionals within the sector. The facility, being set up through cooperation between the Government of Rwanda, Harvard University and Partners In Health, will be operated by the latter.