MPs question quality of education

The government’s plan to ensure universal education is welcome but must move to ensure quality if the country’s education successes are to be sustainable, MP Connie Bwiza, told education officials, yesterday.Education officials led by the Minister of Education, Dr Vincent Biruta, were appearing before the Chamber of Deputies’ standing committee on budget and national patrimony to defend their 2012/13 budget.Bwiza stressed the matter as the Chamber of Deputies’ standing committee on budget and national patrimony, again, poured over Mineduc’s budget allocations in the 2012/13 budget. She emphasised that, undoubtedly, the Ministry of Education “is the heart, or life” of this country and current policies and programmes should go hand-in-hand with other strategies to increase quality.Bwiza noted that the stance of increasing schools positively impacts on the economy’s growth and welfare, in general, but linking it with the job market is a must.“I think that, massively, we are almost there. But qualitatively, we have a big challenge! That (quality) is where my interest is. In terms of the philosophy and national policy, we should hear, in general, what is required as we expand the capacity of universities,” Bwiza said.Education Minister Dr Vincent Biruta, said: “Access and quality is a long debate. The best plan is tackling both. But you have noticed, and it is no secret, that when you want all children to go to school like in the 12-Year Basic Education programme, the number of pupils does not equal the number of qualified teachers.“Quality suffers and when you further increase pupils, even the budget suffers. It is a challenge, but I think the path we took is that of augmenting access without making quality suffer. We know we can’t attain 100 percent on quality but we must be creative in terms of other strategies,” he added, noting that no one expects the teachers who went through a speedy English training programme to be perfect.Out of the current Rwf1, 378.4 billion national budget, Mineduc was allocated Rwf 224.7 billion, or 16.3 per cent.

National

MPs question quality of education