Smartphones to be used to track quality of learning

Over 100 nursery and primary school teachers from five districts will be using smartphones to supervise, monitor and report activities concerning the progress of earning of children at their respective schools. This was announced last week as 114 smartphones were given to the teachers at Nyarugenge District education hall by Right to Play, a global organisation that emphasizes the power of sports and games in educating and empowering children. The Samsung galaxy grand prime smartphones were given to teachers from Nyarugenge, Ruhango, Rubavu, Kayonza and Bugesera. The teachers will be expected to give reports to education officials concerning the progress of play-based child learning activities, among other issues, in their respective schools. The handover of the phones was done under Right to Play’s initiative dubbed “The Play for Advancement of Quality Education” (PAQE), a programme geared towards addressing issues of gender-based violence, ensuring the child welfare protection, and to develop community awareness campaigns on issues of children rights. The initiative also aims at addressing obstacles that prevent children especially girls from accessing education at the family and community level. PAQE is being implemented in 64 schools, reaching more than 60,357 children. The phones contain a software application in which the teachers will feed the necessary information and then forward it to Right to Play offices. Previously the teachers were using pen and paper to do this. Valens Ndayahoze, the programme manager, Right to Play Rwanda and Burundi, said the initiative is in line with the government’s policies to promote technology use in the country, “We copied this from Thailand where they use such technologies to quicken the delivery of news and we believe it will have good results in Rwanda,” he said. Ndayahoze added that Right to Play will be providing the teachers with money for internet. Nyarugenge mayor Kayisime Nzaramba said the initiative will enable leaders to get news fast and devise ways of how to solve the problems in the education sector. Alexis Nkomezi, the headmaster of Ecole Primaire Kamuhoza in Kimisagara, said that the phones will help save their time as they will be able to send reports from classrooms. PAQE is operating in eight countries including Rwanda with the financial support of the government of Canada. In Rwanda, it is being implemented in collaboration with the District Joint Action Development Forum and the Ministry of Education through Rwanda Education Board.