Eighteen teachers from the United States and Canada are in the country to teach science subjects and English in twelve secondary schools. The development ensues following a decision by government last year to encourage the use of English as a language of instruction in schools across the country. The teachers who will spend one year in the country arrived in the country on Friday. Claver Yisa, the acting Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) said at the beginning of a two week teachers’ orientation exercise at St. Paul Pastoral Centre in Kigali that the arrival of the teachers was timely. Theywere mobilised by World Teach-- a US based NGO that has closely partnered with MINEDUC since 2007 to transform the education sector. The ceremony was attended by officials from World Teach, MINEDUC and the US Ambassador to, Rwanda Stewart Symington. The Ambassador urged teachers to be passionate about their subjects in order to inspire and transform the lives of Rwandans through relevant teaching. “The essence of teaching is to inspire your students to create a bridge between education and your work for them to walk on,” said Symington. Symington further said that the greatest challenge was not to only teach but for the teachers to use their skills to transform the lives of Rwandans. The PS said Rwanda has been enjoying and benefiting from the various US-Rwanda programmes. According to Yisa, the teachers have come at a time when Rwanda is in great need to support English language use in schools. Currently, the country is in great need of more English speaking teachers. Over 90 percent of Francophone schools have to use English as a medium of instruction this year. The PS said intensive English training programmes are easing this problem and it will be over soon. “During these holidays, over 3,000 French speaking teachers went through intensive English trainings and throughout this year, the intensity of these programmes will continue until teachers can teach their subjects in English,” the PS explained. Scott Murray, a Biology and Chemistry teacher from a Canadian college said he intends to continue establishing stronger partnerships between Rwanda and Canada. “After this year, I intend to take back what I have learnt from Rwanda to my students back home,” he said. He will be also lecturing in Butare University, Kigali Institute of Management (KIM) and School of Finance and Banking (SFB). Ends
