Local teachers can address the English challenge

Editor, With all due respect to the Government of Rwanda and the Rwanda Education Board, I would like to add my personal opinion on the subject of importing teachers from other East African countries to Rwanda in attempts to improve and accelerate the learning and usage of the English language. This issue was well analysed in The New Times issue of the 6th of June, under the title,”Unlocking the language barrier in schools”.In my opinion teachers from outside won’t solve the problem in the long-run or should I say in the long-learn? The Government should instead bring in few teachers to train our primary teachers in the English language.In a way I think such abrupt policy changes will affect our education sector. My suggestion to the Rwanda Education Board (REB) would be to come up with a strategy whereby, for instance, language graduates from the National University of Rwanda (NUR) together with graduates from Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) can drive this process. But they would need to be motivated with competitive salaries and other incentives.That would eventually help tackle the problem and generally impact the quality of education in Rwanda. Hassan Editor,I wish to share my thoughts about the ongoing efforts to promote use of English language in schools , an issue The New Times highlighted once again in its Wednesday’s issue. In order to have good speakers of English as well as good English language teachers is to put as much emphasis on ORAL SKILLS (use of CD players, radios, etc) in classrooms. These basic oral skills will potentially help teachers as well as students understand the difference between written and spoken English. A child may be able to write perfectly but their spoken vocabulary may not be as so.I believe there should be a standard level where students and teachers are all on the same learning level. That’s how the language barrier will be broken much simpler and faster.CI

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Local teachers can address the English challenge