KIE contextualising the nobility of teaching

Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) is one of the higher institutions of learning in Rwanda that have quickly embraced English as the official language of instruction. This was confirmed on January 22, 2009 by KIE’s Rector when welcoming first year students and officially kicking off the 2009-2010 academic year. The First year students were advised to utilise their opportunity of joining such an institution to the maximum. Hundreds of students braved the scotching heat to listen to words of wisdom from their leaders. It was such an interesting occasion, which was filled with sense, mixed with humility. From the word go, the academic registrar made people laugh to tears while calling students to gather for the meeting in what seemed like Pidgin English. “All of you came hear. Don’t you heard what I am saying, come, come nearing we started,” Augustine Ngabirame, the KIE academic registrar said attracting deafening laughter and applause. Ngabirame, who is probably in his mid 50s, had studied only French as a second language. The fact that he can now utter some English words, which in any case offer enough communication, is very encouraging. And as a teacher he was trying to show his students that time is ripe for them to start speaking English as a way of mastering it. The Rector further emphasised his probable claim when he said, “The only way to master a language is to speak. If I were you, I would from today stop speaking Kinyarwanda and go for English until I get it.” The students were further reminded that they were in a critical period that marked the transition from secondary to university levels. Indeed, first year in a higher institution ruins or builds an individual. This is the time when learners get all the freedom to do what they want as opposed to life in high school where students are normally under strict directives and watchful eyes of their teachers. Every student is expected to be in the right place at the right time, discover and do research for him/herself with little assistance. The little assistance is also offered upon request to the lecturers. It is a transition in making, hence ushering in a high sense of responsibility. What does an institution of higher learning do? We are in KIE but what are we? Where are we and going? These are some of the questions, educationists put forward for students in KIE to ponder. “The teachers you see before you are supposed to nurture the potentials in you. They (teachers) are part of the whole process- co-learning between lecturers and students,” said George K. Njoroge, Rector KIE. Teaching is a noble job whose true colours very few understand. We have been hearing cases where some private schools were run as business enterprises. “We do not want to see cases where some schools are turned into a form of business,” complained Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, the State Minister of education. For one to be a good teacher, he or she must able to stick to the general guiding ethics of a teacher. This is the only challenge that seems to be affecting most schools in the world, Rwanda inclusive. “A teacher is the most important individual in the whole spectrum of development. He/she creates all the others, but what is paradoxical and controversial is the fact that he/she produces builders and destroyers of nations. People who are yielding evil in the world pass through the hands of teachers whereas at the same time we find that those who build peace in societies pass through teachers too. Nevertheless, such controversy should not dissuade us from our mission to build the nation,” Njoroge said. Though it is true that great men and women pass through the hands of teachers, it is not true that all who pass through teachers’ schools adhere to what they are taught. Similarly, some schoolteachers and administrators do not live to their expectations. “It is very wrong for a teacher to stand before students and say that he or she is the Omega and Alpha of knowledge. I regard my office as a public place. If I mistreat teachers, then I am wrong. This is a public institution and every office here must be open for you to access all the time. Let us not build Kingdoms and ‘Qeendoms’ created by teachers and administrators,” emphasised the KIE head. On the issue of language shift, KIE teachers pledge to leave no stone unturned in order to master teaching and learning in English. On mentioning the language of instruction, the lecturers and students seemed to be filled with anxiety mixed with fear that you could read in their eyes. “Here in KIE we are not labouring but working, the two are different. Labouring is bad because you eat all you get and at the end of the day, you are left with nothing. We must live and not just exist,” Njoroge underscored to a transfixed audience. The language issue comes at a time when teachers still rank among the lowest paid civil servants in the country, a thing that may keep away young people from joining the calling. It therefore takes a strong mind to labour so hard to study and later on devote to teaching. It is on record that so many trained teachers end up in other jobs just to get high pay and access other privileges. It is probably against such background that the Rector hastened to advise students thus; “As a human being you are not supposed to lose hope and if you lose hope then you are gone. That is why you are not only humans but also persons-You are thinking animals. In higher education, we have shock absorbers to check any challenge. I pity those who say that I am not gong to teach to eat chalk. It all depends on how you eat it,” advised Njoroge. “Hope is the Ontological requirement for one to be human,” he said, using Frera’s philosophical words to drive his point home. Contact: mugitoni@yahoo.com