A technology used under the Rwanda Education Quality Improvement Program (RwandaEQUIP) is enabling remote monitoring of teachers’ performance and learning in class, the Director General of Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), Nelson Mbarushimana, said. He made the observation on May 2, during hearings in which officials from REB appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to respond to issues related to public asset management raised by the report of the Office of the Auditor General for the financial year ended on June 30, 2023. ALSO READ: Over 500 primary schools adopt digital approach to improve learning He said RwandaEQUIP was initiated to enhance quality education, especially through ICT whereby each teacher – in the beneficiary schools – has a tablet containing lesson plans [that help them deliver courses to students efficiently]. The project has brought some benefits to teaching and learning, in line with Rwanda’s ICT agenda, he highlighted. “It is the first time we have had such a project where we can monitor what teachers are doing. This project is implemented in 30 districts in 761 schools,” Mbarushimana said. “When I am at REB, I can see how teachers are providing lessons in districts; one who has finished offering courses, and the one who has not yet finished them, such that I can call them [for a way forward],” he observed. With the programme, he said, REB can identify schools that complete academic programmes and those that do not. This enables school leaders to generate reports on the curriculum covered and teachers’ attendance. He pointed out that the project is still in the pilot phase, indicating that the plan is to evaluate its benefits so that it gets extended to other schools. Meanwhile, he said, some challenges were encountered at the beginning of the project implementation, indicating that some teachers had difficulties using ICT in delivering courses because they were not accustomed to it – as they were previously teaching without using tablets – but that issue was addressed. MP Valens Muhakwa, Chairperson of PAC, said the project should be effectively and efficiently implemented to ensure that students get due benefits in a timely manner. ALSO READ: Teachers welcome new Tech-enabled methodology in public primary schools RwandaEQUIP at a glance RwandaEQUIP is the Government of Rwanda’s transformative programme to make the country’s basic education system globally competitive, according to information from the project. Through RwandaEQUIP, the Government of Rwanda is committed to promoting ICT-supported education to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in public schools and provide quality education for all Rwandan children. It provides teachers with technology to use in the classroom for accessing and teaching their lessons and keeping track of student performance and attendance data. Under the programme, head teachers of schools are given smartphones with applications that provide digital insights on what is happening in every classroom; attendance, lesson delivery, and learning outcomes in real time. The teachers are also equipped with teacher guides and classroom management techniques that boost pupil engagement and creativity. They are equipped with teacher tablets that contain daily lesson guides built around the curriculum in the country. The guides help teachers overcome challenges that they used to encounter while designing their lesson plans. As such, teachers can focus more on teaching rather than planning and also deliver lessons in a coherent and easy-to-understand format.
