MUSANZE- Ruhengeri Central Prison is conducting literacy classes within the prison walls.The training centre with 20 inmate teachers has over 63 teenagers attending primary education from Primary One to Six. There is also a nursery school for children living in the prison with their mothers. The Language Teaching, Training and Coaching Centre also attracts residents seeking literacy education from the surrounding community as well as prisoners. It also offers coaching to area students preparing for national examinations.To the adults, the centre offers vocational training, including tailoring, carpentry, computer lessons in addition to reading and writing.“I have the skills. This is a contribution we make to the society. Why should anyone merely sit and eat? Besides, it’s a way of interacting with the outside people,” said Dominique Gatsimbanyi, who holds a Bachelors of Arts degrees in Modern Languages from the University of Constantine, Algeria and has been in jail for 15 years.“We want people to gain skills which may help them when they get out of here.’’ To the prisoners, it’s more than a job, but a way of uniting with the people outside, using their brains, helping the illiterate, and keeping up-to-date.“We teach people who have degrees, especially English language. We teach foreigners who want to learn Kinyarwanda, this is a busy centre,’’ stated Alphonse Kurutabare, another inmate teacher.Inmates who have completed primary level education requested the Rwanda Correctional Services to help them start secondary school education.“We lack books, pens and other scholastic materials; we need secondary education,” lamented Ildephonse Maniragaba, a teenager jailed for rape.According to Prosper Mugororotsi, the Director of Ruhengeri Prison, the programme helps the prisoners acquire skills which prepare them to outside life.“Only prisoners who have served at least half their sentences, are allowed to work in teaching activities” Mugororotsi clarified.Those learning languages pay Rwf 100 per hour, with prisoners earning 10 percent of what they work for.
