REB reviews status of English in Rwanda

Rwanda Education Board (REB) summoned key development partners as well as senior mentors and sector education officer representatives for an English language strategic review last week. The meeting, which took place in Aberdeen House in Gaculiro, Kigali, aimed at reviewing the status of English language in Rwanda and to identify current challenges as well as opportunities and potential solutions. After the transition to English as the language of instruction in schools in 2009, the Rwandan government as well as development partners launched several initiatives to further equip teachers with English language skills as quickly and efficiently as possible.The director general of REB Dr John Rutayisire said, “The School based Mentoring Programme remains a crucial component of quality education. While it remains so, there is need to look for alternative and complementary approaches.”Most recently, REB joined partners, including DFID, the Wellspring Foundation, and the USAID-funded Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative, in rolling out the national School-based Mentoring Programme. 1,000 mentors will support teachers with English language and pedagogy across the country. The large majority of primary and secondary school teachers are at the beginning and elementary levels of English. Benchmarks will be set for teacher progress.“There is a need for one structured, national programme and need for efforts of all stakeholders which must be coordinated,” he said.According to Jean Wilson, a consultant with DFID, this coordinated effort will require extensive training for English trainers and teachers, a set of structured materials for national use, teacher training in autonomous language learning, group support, and exposure to English language not only in schools, but also in homes and communities. “This will require tremendous efforts, but if Rwanda can’t do it, no country in Africa can.” He said.The Education Development Center (EDC), British Council, DFID, UNICEF, the International Education Exchange (IEE), Peace Corps, VSO, the Wellspring Foundation, and FHI 360 participated in the event.