KIGALI - The first ever nursery teachers’ training institute will be opened in Eastern Province in a bid to bridge the still existing gap of professionals to handle pre-primary infants. Eng. Helene Cyr, the founder and chief advisor of the yet-to-be established institute, says the move will reduce the workload for the primary section and make it easy for children to grasp the language basics which can be polished at primary and secondary levels. “Rwanda is developing at a high rate and socio-economic structure has also improved with many day-care centres and nursery schools being opened, yet there are no professional teachers in this category,” Cyr said in an exclusive interview. The project of the Nursery Training Teacher’s Institute is expected to be up and running by early next year with a capacity to host about 300 students for the programme. Traditionally, the pre-primary section was handled by any trained teacher, but according to Cyr, it should have a particular syllabus. The two-year programme is targeting to enrol O’level students, especially female, with a desire to learn nursery teaching skills and willing to handle young children.Cyr said that students will be paying Rwf70,000 per term and Rwf280,000 per year including the period of internship. With the introduction of English language in all schools across the country, Cyr said the institute will provide teachers with the required knowledge to familiarize pupils with the English language at an early age. “We need to market the programme and have people enroll, because the approach has been used in neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda for many years and has yielded overwhelming results,” Cyr said. The nursery training institute is sister school of Kayonza Vocational School which awards certificates in Hotel Management and Tourism. Ends
